This year, we are goingto celebrate 117th birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, India’ssecond prime minister. His slogan “JAI JAWAAN JAI KISAAN” is still in ourheart.
He was the great freedom fighter and a true spirit of India. He was known for his soft personality towards the common man. He became the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964. Lal Bahadur Shastri served in the first cabinet of independent India, holding critical positions such as Home Affairs and Railways.
Birth and Family Background
He was born in Ram Nagar, Ahmedabad Mughalsarai on 2nd October, 1904. He belonged to a poor family. Lal Bahadur slipped out of his mother's arms and into a cow herder’s basket on the Ganges Ghats when he was three months old. The cow herder, who had no children of his own, accepted the child as a gift from God and welcomed him into his house. Lal Bahadur's parents filed a police report, and then he was found and restored to his parents.
Early as a Fighter
When he was just 11 years old, he heard Mahatma Gandhi in 1915 and decided to serve his life to the country. He also removed his surname Shrivastav because it represents the caste system, and as a follower ofMahatma Gandhi he completely opposes caste system. During the non-cooperation movement in 1921, he was arrested but as he was minor, they have to let him off. When he completed his study at Kashi Vidyapeeth in 1926, people start calling him Shastri, which means scholar.
As Second Prime Minister of India
He was appointed a prime minister in 1964 without any portfolio, after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru.
On 11 June 1964, Shastri spoke for the first time as a prime minister and said:
“There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the cross-roads of history and must choose which way to go. But for us there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or left. Our way is straight and clear – the building up of a socialist democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all, and the maintenance of world peace and friendship with all nations.”
Death
Following the cease-fire, Shastri and Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan attended a Kosygin-organized summit in Tashkent (former USSR, now contemporary Uzbekistan). Shastri and Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration on January 10, 1966.The next day, at 1:32 a.m., Shastri, who had already experienced two heart attacks, died allegedly of a heart attack. He was the only Indian Prime Minister to die in office outside of India, and one of the few heads of state to do so.