Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri – the man of principles, was born on October 2, 1904. He was the second Prime Minister of the Independent India. Shastri was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his thoughts were greatly influenced by him. He gave a slogan ’Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan’ and it became relatively popular and is remembered, especially by the agrarian community even nowadays. He served as the Railway Minister too.

Childhood

Lal Bahadur Shastri was born to Ramdulari Devi and Sharada Prasad Shrivastava, in Moghalsarai, United Province (Uttar Pradesh) in a Kayastha family. He lost his father when he was only a year old. He grew up at his maternal grandfather’s place. Even without his father, he grew up learning virtues like boldness, love of adventure, patience, self-control, courtesy, and selflessness.

Education

Shastri attained his primary education in Mirzapur. After that he went to East Central Railway Inter College in Mughalsarai and Varanasi. He attained his degree in first class from the Kashi Vidyapeeth in the year 1926. He was called Shastri because he was a scholar.

Career

He became a life member of Servants of the people society initiated by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and became its president. He began to work for the upliftment of the poor and downtrodden. He also joined Indian Independence Movement in 1920s and spent almost 9 years in jails on various occasions. His activities also included joining Non-Cooperation movement and Salt Satyagraha too. Lal Bahadur Shastri joined Quit India Movement and led the freedom fighters affectively.

After Independence, on 15th August 1947, Lal Bahadur Shatri was appointed the Minister of Police and Transport. He was the one to initiate the inclusion of women as bus conductors. In 1951, he was elected as the General Secretary of All India Congress Committee.

On 11th June, 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri was appointed as the second Prime Minister of India, after the death of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

At the end

Lal Bahadur Shatri led India in the Indo-Pak war of 1965, when Pakistani military infiltrated Indian territory of Kutch and Kashmir. When India took Pakistan to its crushing defeat, UN intervened and they both signed the Tashkent Declaration. The next day at Tashkent he died of heart attack, which was mainly taken as a mysterious plot set by the enemies. He died on Jannuary 11, 1966. He is the only Indian Prime Minister, to have died in office, overseas. He was awarded India’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna posthumously.