Lal
Bahadur Shastri
Born: 2
October 1904
Passed Away: 11 January 1966
Contributions
He devoted his life for the pride and honor of the country. Shastri was
regarded as man of principles. Lal Bahadur Shastri offered his resignation as
Union Railway Minister; hours after he was made aware of a train accident that
killed around 150 people. He laid the foundation stones of the well-productive
schemes like Green Revolutions and White Revolutions. He was the first person
to be posthumously awarded the "Bharat Ratna".
Life
Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on October 2, 1904, to Ramdulari Devi and Sharada
Prasad Shrivastava, in Moghalsarai, United Province (Uttar Pradesh). He shares
his birthday with Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. Lal Bahadur was
against the prevailing caste system and therefore decided to drop his surname.
The title "Shastri" was given after the completion of his graduation
at Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi in 1925. The title "Shastri" refers to
a "scholar" or a person, adept in the "Holy Scriptures".
His father Sharada Prasad, a schoolteacher by profession, passed away when Lal
Bahadur was barely two years old. His mother Ramdulari Devi took him and his
two sisters to their maternal grandfather Hazari Lal's house. Lal Bahadur
acquired virtues like boldness, love of adventure, patience, self-control,
courtesy, and selflessness in his childhood. After completing his primary
education at Mirzapur, Lal Bahadur was sent to Varanasi, where he stayed with
his maternal uncle.
Young Lal Bahadur, inspired with the stories and speeches of national leaders,
developed a desire to participate in the Indian nationalist movement. He would
also spend time by reading foreign authors like Marx, Russell and Lenin. In
1915, a speech of Mahatma Gandhi changed the course of his life and decided to
jump into the fire of Indian freedom struggle.
In order to participate actively in the freedom movement, Lal Bahadur neglected
his studies. In 1921, during the non-cooperation movement, called by Mahatma
Gandhi, Lal Bahadur was arrested for demonstrating in defiance of the
prohibitory order. Sine he was a minor then, the authority had to release him.
In 1928, Lal Bahadur Shastri married Lalita Devi, the youngest daughter of
Ganesh Prasad. He was against the prevailing "dowry system" and so
refused to accept dowry. However, on the repeated urging of his father-in-law,
he agreed to accept only five yards of khadi (cotton, usually handspun) cloth
as dowry.
Active Nationalist
In 1930, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the secretary of the Congress party and
later the president of the Allahabad Congress Committee. He played a crucial
role during the "Salt Movement". Lal Bahadur lead a door-to-door
campaign, urging people not to pay land revenue and taxes to the British
authority. The leader was also sent to jail for the campaign. During the long
span of nine years he spent in jails, Lal Bahadur utilized the time in reading
the social reformers and western philosophers. He was one of the leading and
prominent faces that continued the Quit India movement, called by Mahatma
Gandhi. Lal Bahadur, in 1937, was elected to the UP Legislative Assembly.
Post Independence
Lal Bahadur Shastri had served in various positions before being elected as the
Prime Minister. After Independence, he became the Minister of police in the
Ministry of Govind Vallabh Panth in Uttar Pradesh. His recommendations included
the introduction of "water-jets" instead of sticks to disperse the
unruly mob. Impressed with his efforts in reforming the state police
department, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Shastri to join the Union cabinet as a
Minister for railways. He was a responsible man and known for his ethics and
morality. In 1956, Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned from his post, following a
train accident that killed around 150 passengers near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu.
Nehru, had once said, "No one could wish for a better comrade than Lal
Bahadur, a man of the highest integrity and devoted to ideas".
Lal Bahadur Shastri returned to the Cabinet in 1957, first as the Minister for
Transport and Communications, and then as the Minister of Commerce and
Industry. In 1961, he became Minister for Home and formed the "Committee
on Prevention of Corruption" headed by of K. Santhanam.
Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru was succeeded by a mild-mannered and soft-spoken Lal Bahadur
Shastri on 9 June, 1964. He was a follower of Nehruvian socialism. Despite the
strong influence and desire of becoming the Prime Minister, of some party
stalwarts Shastri emerged as the consensus candidate.
Shastri tackled many elementary problems like food shortage, unemployment and
poverty. To overcome the acute food shortage, Shastri asked the experts to
devise a long-term strategy. This was the beginning of famous "Green
Revolution". Apart from the Green Revolution, he was also instrumental in
promoting the White Revolution. The National Dairy Development Board was formed
in 1965 during Shastri as Prime Minister.
After the Chinese aggression, the major cross-border-problems Shastri faced was
caused by Pakistan. It sent her forces across the eastern border into the Rann
of Kuch in Gujarat. Shastri showing his mettle, made it very clear that India
would not sit and watch. While granting liberty to the Security Forces to
retaliate He said, "Force will be met with force".
The Indo-Pak war ended on 23 September 1965 after the United Nations passed a
resolution demanding a ceasefire. The Russian Prime Minister, Kosygin, offered
to mediate and on 10 January 1966, Lal Bahadur Shastri and his Pakistan
counterpart Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration.
Death
Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had earlier suffered two heart attacks, died of the
third cardiac arrest on 11 January, 1966. He is the only Indian Prime Minister,
to have died in office, overseas. Lal Bahadur Shastri was the first person to
be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, (India's highest civilian award)
Mumbai - Reporter
02/10/2013 Magazine World of UGI
©magazine world of UGI 2013
All rights are reserved!
