Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri

Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri

June 9, 1964 – January 11, 1966. 

Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on 2 October 1904 in Mughalsarai, a small railway town seven miles from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. His father was a school teacher. When Lal Bahadur Shastri was only one and a half years old, his father died. His mother moved to her father's house with all three children.

Lal Bahadur's schooling in that small town was not special but despite being hit by poverty, he had a fairly happy childhood.

He was sent to live with his uncle in Varanasi so that he could complete his high school education. Everyone at home used to call him by the name of Nanhe. He used to walk many miles to school barefoot, even in the scorching heat when the streets were extremely hot.

As he grew up, Lal Bahadur Shastri became more interested in the country's struggle for freedom from foreign slavery. He was deeply moved by Mahatma Gandhi's condemnation of the Indian princes who were supporting British rule in India. When Lal Bahadur Shastri was only eleven years old, he had made up his mind to do something at the national level.

Lal Bahadur Shastri was only sixteen years old when Gandhi called upon his countrymen to join the non-cooperation movement. He had decided to leave his studies on this call of Mahatma Gandhi. His decision broke his mother's hopes. His family tried hard to stop him by saying that his decision was wrong but they failed in this. Lal Bahadur had made up his mind. All those close to him knew that once he had made up his mind, he would never change his decision because Lal Bahadur, who looked humble on the outside, was as firm as a rock on the inside.

Lal Bahadur Shastri joined the Kashi Vidya Peeth in Varanasi, one of the many national institutions established in defiance of the British rule. Here he came under the influence of great scholars and nationalists of the country. The name of the graduation degree awarded to him by the Vidya Peeth was 'Shastri' but it settled in the minds of the people as a part of his name.

They got married in 1927. His wife Lalita Devi was from Mirzapur which was near to his own town. Their wedding was traditional in all respects. In the name of dowry, there was a spinning wheel and a few meters of hand-woven cloth. They didn't want anything more as dowry.

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi marched to Dandi breaking the salt law. This symbolic message brought a kind of revolution in the whole country. Lal Bahadur Shastri joined this struggle for freedom with feverish energy. He led several rebel campaigns and spent a total of seven years in British jails. This struggle for freedom made him completely mature.

Even before the Congress came to power after independence, the leaders of the national struggle had understood the importance of humble and humble Lal Bahadur Shastri. When the Congress government was formed in 1946, this 'little dynamo' was asked to play a constructive role in the governance of the country. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary of his home state of Uttar Pradesh and soon rose to the rank of Home Minister. His ability to work hard and his efficiency became a proverb in Uttar Pradesh. He moved to New Delhi in 1951 and held several portfolios in the Union Cabinet – Minister of Railways; Minister of Transport and Communications; Commerce and Industry Minister; Home Minister and during Nehru ji's illness, remained minister without department. His reputation was growing steadily. Holding himself responsible for a train accident in which several people were killed, he resigned from the post of Railway Minister. The country and the Parliament greatly appreciated his unprecedented initiative. The then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru while speaking in Parliament on this incident praised the honesty and high ideals of Lal Bahadur Shastri. He said that he has accepted the resignation of Lal Bahadur Shastri not because he is responsible for what happened but because it will set an example of constitutional decency. Responding to the long debate on the train accident, Lal Bahadur Shastri said; “Perhaps because of my short stature and meekness, people feel that I am not able to be very firm. Though physically I am not strong but I feel that internally I am not that weak either.”

Even during the work of his ministry, he kept looking after matters related to the Congress party and contributed a lot in it. The decisive and resounding success of the party in the general elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962 was a major contribution to his organizational talent and his amazing ability to see things closely.

During his dedicated service for more than thirty years, Lal Bahadur Shastri became famous among the people for his lofty integrity and ability. Humble, firm, tolerant and with tremendous inner strength, Shastri ji emerged among the people as a person who understood the feelings of the people. He was a visionary who brought the country on the path of progress. Lal Bahadur Shastri was highly influenced by the political teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He once said in the same tone of his Guru Mahatma Gandhi - "Hard work is like praying."