Lal Bahadur Shastri
My Dear Indians,
Simplicity......This is one word that defines the man who was born on 2 October 1904 - Lal Bahadur Shastri.
His mother’s name was Ramdulari Devi.
He was born in Mughalsarai city मुग़लसराय in Uttar Pradesh.
Mughalsarai is a small ‘railway’ town near Varanasi. This city is a major ‘junction’ of the Indian Railways.
Lal Bahadur Ji was fondly called ‘Nanhe’ नन्हे by his family.
His father died when he was only 18 months old. His mother then moved to her father’s home along with her three children.
His mother also died soon and then his uncle in Varanasi took care of him. Lal Bahadur Ji had to walk miles without shoes to reach school.
Lal Bahadur Ji became interested in the freedom struggle of India and was greatly impressed with Mahatma Gandhi.
1920- Mahatma Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement. Lal Bahadur Ji gave up his studies and joined the movement. He was 16 years old then.
Later Lal Bahadur Ji joined the Kashi Vidya Peeth / कशी विद्या पीठ in Varanasi.
‘Shastri’ was the bachelor’s degree awarded to him by Kashi Vidya Peeth. From then on he came to be known as Lal Bahadur Shastri.
1927- He got married to Lalita Devi.
1930- Mahatma Gandi undertook the Dandi March to break the Imperial Salt Law. Shastri Ji joined the freedom struggle and led many campaigns and as a result stayed in British jails for seven years.
After independence, the Indian National Congress Party came to power. Shastri Ji was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary of Uttar Pradesh and later he rose to become the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
1951- he joined the Union Govt in Delhi. He served the Govt of India as Minister for Railways, Minister for Transport and Communications, Minister for Commerce and Industry and Home Minister.
1964- May 27- Jawaharlal Nehru passed away.
1964- June 9- Lal Bahadur Shastri became the second Prime Minister of India.
When he was the Prime Minister of India, we had faced a food crisis. The country had shortage of food. Shastri Ji asked his countrymen to fast for one day in a week (do not have food for one day in a week).
He fasted. And the entire country followed him. The people of India were ready to do anything and everything for him.
His simplicity made him a darling of the masses.
When Shastri Ji was the Prime Minister, we wanted to buy a car for himself. He went to the branch of the Punjab National Bank in Delhi to get his loan sanctioned and then purchased a car on loan. Unbelievable!
After he passed away, his wife Smt Lalita Shastri repaid the remaining loan out of Shastri Ji’s pension.
Do you know what is ‘Kitchen garden’?
The vegetables that we grow in the backyard of our houses for our own consumption is called kitchen garden.
Shastri Ji had asked every Indian to start maintaining a kitchen garden to tide over food shortage.
Kaira Cooperative Milk Producers' Union , under the leadership of Verghese Kurian has created a milk production movement in a city called Anand in Gujarat. This Co-operative movement was called AMUL.
AMUL stands for Anand Milk Union Limited
Lal Bahadur Shastri requested Verghese Kurian to make this a nationwide movement.
1965- National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) was set up as a statutory body by the Parliament of India under the Prime Ministership of Shastri Ji.
1965- August to 23 September- Pakistan once again attacked India.
Just three years back under the Prime Ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru, India had faced humiliation at the hands of the Chinese. In 1962 China had attacked India and Indian Army was ill-prepared for it because of political lethargy and indifference. For reasons best known to Nehru, the Indian Air Force was not allowed to participate in the China war. But this time in 1965 against Pakistan, it was Lal Bahadur Shastri – a short statured and soft spoken man but a man with a strong will.
Pakistan had to retreat and concede defeat. The war came to an end with a UN ceasefire mediated by US and USSR. This was followed by ‘Tashkent Declaration’. This declaration laid out the process of maintaining peace between two countries.
Tashkent was a place in USSR (Soviet Union). After disintegration of USSR, Tashkent is a part of Uzbekistan.
1966- January 10- Tashkent Declaration was signed between Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri of India and President (Dictator) Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan.
1966- January 11- The day after signing of Tashkent Declaration, Shastri Ji was declared dead in Tashkent.
This came as a shock to everyone. He was all fine and healthy the previous evening. His wife Smt Lalita Shastri alleged that he had been poisoned.
A number of conspiracy theories came up- Was it the work of domestic political rivals within Congress party to seize the Prime Minister’s post (there was no other party of significance then) or was it a international conspiracy by Pakistan and allies!
What makes Shastri Ji’s death look like a conspiracy is the fact that the Govt of India of that time did NOT inquire into the reasons of his death and nothing was made public.
Requests made by her wife were IGNORED. Even the media was silent. Those were the times when media/ press and judiciary were not as ‘free’ as they are today. The Govt had a tight hold over all communication.
INDIA lost a simple but strong leader of the masses.
Jai Jawan! Jai Kissan !
This slogan was coined by Shastri Ji.
This song is probably next to the National Anthem in popularity....
Had Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji not been there we would have never seen and heard this song !!
It was on Shastri Ji's request that Actor Manoj Kumar made this film "Upkar" उपकार
‘Upkaar’ –This is the story of a farmer किसान who turns into a soldier जवान
1965 - Actor Manoj Kumar made the film "Shaheed" शहीद on the life of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and invited Shastri Ji to watch the film with him.
This was the time when tensions between India and Pakistan were escalating that finally led to a war.
Shastri Ji watched this film with Manoj Kumar and went home. ...... at 2 O'Clock in the night he called up Manoj Kumar and invited him to his residence. During their meeting, he asked Manoj Kumar to make a film on Kisan and Jawan किसान और जवान .
This is how film Upkar उपकार was made
But Shastri Ji could never watch this film.
This film was released in 1967, one year after Shastri Ji passed away.
Be simple, think big and do your best, My dear Indians !
Jai Hind !
Gaurav Negi
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