48) Lal Bahadur Shastri; Honouring a popular Prime Minister of India (02.10.1904 – 11.01.1966)

Lal Bahadur Shastri;

Honouring a popular Prime Minister of India

(02.10.1904 – 11.01.1966)

Lal Bahadur was born in Mughal Sarai, in the United Provinces (present day Uttar Pradesh, India) on 2^nd October 1904. He shares his birthday with Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian Nation. There is an interesting event early on in his life, when, as a baby, he fell from his mother’s hands into a basket of a shepherd who took him home as a God /Nature given gift to him on the Banks of the holy river Ganges. After much difficulty, he was restored to his parents.

His father, Sharada Prasad Srivastava passed away when Lal Bahadur was only one and a half years old and he was brought up by his grandfather in Mughal Sarai where he had his early schooling and he, later, he stayed with his uncle in Varanasi where he studied at Harishchandra High School.

It is said that once he went to see a fair on the Far Bank of the river Ganges, and because he had no money for the return boat fare, with a steely resolve, he swam back, across the river, to the other Bank.

Freedom Fighter:

He gave up his surname “Srivastava” because it indicated his caste and he was against the caste system, as were many educated Indians of his time. Instead, he took the title “Shastri” (or “scholar”’ or “adept in Religious literature”), after completing his graduation at Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi. He was also, against the Dowry system and did not accept any dowry in his marriage. Nevertheless, as dowry was a prevalent custom in his community, his Father-in-Law, insisted on giving him a “token dowry” of five yards of khadi (“Swadeshi “or “indigenous” hand-spun cloth) which all Indians were wearing in those days, after boycotting British goods and clothes and a “Charkha” (Wooden wheel gadget/instrument) on which the thread for Khadi clothes was spun .

He was inspired by the teachings of Guru Nanak, the Sikh religious leader and the ideals and sacrifices of Indian leaders, in particular, Bal Gangadhar Tilak – the Indian Nationalist, social reformer and freedom fighter and Mahatma Gandhi , and he joined the Indian Nationalist Movement in 1915. For this he had to give up his studies. In 1921, he participated in Gandhiji’s non-cooperation movement and was arrested for defying a Prohibitory order, but was released by the British authorities, as he was a minor. In 1930, he participated in Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt Satyagrah movement and was imprisoned for two and a half years. During his imprisonment he lost one of his daughters. He had been given a two–week release from jail on the condition that he would not participate in the Freedom movement but would only tend to his daughter who was terminally ill. As soon as the last rites for the girl were performed, he went back to prison without waiting for the two-week term of release to end.

For his participation in Satyagrah and Quit India Movement among other acts of defiance during India’s Freedom struggle, he spent a total of almost nine years in prison. He spent time reading the works of Western and Indian Philosophers, Revolutionaries and Social Reformers. He is also credited with translating the Autobiography of Marie Curie, (the Physics Nobelist who had discovered Radium), into Hindi.

Political Career:

In 1937, he worked as the Organizing Secretary of the Parliamentary Board of United Provinces.

He was appointed a Minister of Police and Transport in the State of Uttar Pradesh after India gained Independence. Interestingly, during his tenure as Minister of Police, he suggested the use of water-jets, instead of using batons and “lathis” (sticks) by the police to disperse unruly crowds.

In 1951, he became the General secretary of the All India Congress Committee, when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha . He was appointed as a Central Cabinet Minister for Railways and Transport an office which he held from 1951 to 1956. He gained wide public acclaim/appreciation when he resigned this assignment, on the grounds of owning up moral responsibility when two Railway Train accidents in quick succession occurred during his watch as the Minister for Railways and Transport.

He was instrumental in the Congress Party winning Parliamentary elections with landslide margins during 1952, 1957 and 1962.

After the 1957 election victory, he was reinstated to a Central Cabinet Post as Minister for Transport and Communications and later as Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Afterwards in 1961, he became the Minister for Home Affairs. As Minister for Home, he formed a “Committee of Corruption” headed by a senior bureaucrat.

He succeeded Nehru as the Prime Minister on 9^th June 1964, after Nehru passed away in May 1964.

Some Initiatives as Prime Minister :

The country at the time of his taking over as Prime Minister was going through an economic crisis and unprecedented food shortage. Under his directives, the “Green Revolution” was made a success story in India by C. Subramanium and his team of dedicated bureaucrats/scientists ( Please refer my post on “C. Subramanium : the Father of the Green Revolution in India”) as was the “White Revolution” which was initiated by Dr.V.T.Kurien  at Anand in Gujarat.  The success of the “AMUL” experiment/model, led to the formation of the “National Dairy Development Board”, under Lal Bahadur Shastri’s initiative.

During the unfortunate War with Pakistan in 1965, he coined the phrase “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” (Salutations to the Soldier, Salutations to the Farmer), which reminded Indian citizens of the two primary areas of concern – protecting the Nation’s security and laying emphasis on growing more food. Nevertheless, he believed that all contentious issues between neighbouring countries should be settled amicably by discussion across the table and not by armed conflict and was gracious enough to concede major concessions in the Tashkent Declaration, because he wanted peace with India’s neighbouring countries.

Death and legacy:

After the Indo-Pak War of 1965 concluded, at the initiative of Alexei Kosygin , the Premier of  USSR, Lal Bahadur along with the Pakistani President Mohammad Ayub Khan participated in a meeting and finalized the Tashkent Declaration at Tashkent, USSR (present day Uzbekistan).

The hectic parleying led to Shastriji suffering two heart attacks which led to his passing away in USSR itself. His sudden passing away has been shrouded in mystery ever since and it is suspected that he was poisoned by some interested parties/persons. The Indian Government has also added grist to the rumour mill by not declassifying the documents/information available on his sudden death, even today.

He had an extremely honest and forthright personality and acquitted his term in the office of the Prime Minister admirably, taking sound and popular decisions which upheld the faith of the public/Indian citizens in his leadership and took the country economically forward and generated self sufficiency in Food production.  He set very high standards of character and public morality, values which have been constantly deteriorating ever since, even within the present representatives of the same Congress Party, which he was a member of, so much so, that some of the present Congress Government’s Cabinet Ministers are in prison/on bail on corruption charges for misappropriating public money.

Even the one old car that he owned was bought in instalments from the Government for which loan he still owed money at the time of his passing away.

His early death resulted in derailment of pragmatic economic policies.

Lauded for his honesty and humbleness throughout his life, he was the most popular Prime Minister of India. I remember that, in the late 1990s, when I was visiting some Branches on official work, while working for the State Bank of India in the Uttaranchal Hills, I was taken ill in Pithoragarh, and called upon a senior   Medical Practitioner at his clinic. I was pleasantly surprised that his clinic walls were adorned by the photographs, sayings and statements and values which Lal Bahadur Shastri stood for. He shared with me, during discussion, that he was very much influenced by Shastriji and had patterned his life on the beliefs/honesty/ ideals and commitments that Shastriji stood for. He also shared that during the days of food shortages in India, Shastriji had given up eating dinner on certain days and fasting instead, to help the National effort to save /grow more food, a call which several Indians of the Doctor’s generation, young and old had responded to. He was still emulating Shastriji’s example and foregoing dinner on the marked days. This was the kind of example-setting that Shastriji is still remembered for and emulated.

Commemoration:

 He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest award in 1966, of which he was the first recipient.

A memorial was built for him at “Vijay Ghat”.  The National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie which trains officers for the Indian Administrative Services is named after him.

The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute is also named after him, as are several other Institutes and Public Schools and Colleges across the country.

During his birth centenary celebrations, the Reserve Bank of India to commemorate the life of Lal Bahadur Shastri brought out a five rupee coin for general circulation and a 100 rupee coin as Proof/uncirculated coin. The five rupee coin issued for general circulation had two variants: one, having metal composition as Cupro-Nickel (Copper 75%, Nickel 25%) and the second variant had a metal composition of Ferritic Stainless Steel (Iron 83% and Chromium 17%). Both coins had an outer diameter of 23mm. The weight of the CN coin was 9 gms and that of the FSS coin was 6 gms. Both coins were issued in 2004.

The obverse of the coin has the Lion Capital in the centre together with the words “Satyameva Jayate “ (Truth always Prevails) which together form the emblem/Coat of Arms of India. The numeral “5” denoting the denomination of the coin is below the emblem. On the left periphery are the words “Bharat” and “Rupiye” in Hindi and on the right periphery are the words “India” and “Rupees” in English.

The Reverse of the coin shows the portrait of Lal Bahadur Shastri with the inscription “ Lal Bahadur Shastri Janmashati “ in Hindi on the left periphery and “Lal Bahadur Shastri Birth Centenary” in English on the right periphery. His life years “1904 – 2004 “are inscribed below his portrait. This  coin was minted at Hyderabad mint. Notice the “five pointed star” mint mark above his life years.

Posted on 31.03.2013: 

 India Government Mint, Kolkata is taking bookings from 01.04.2013 to 31.05.2013 for two-coins sets (comprising Rs.100/- and Rs.5/- coins) both in Proof coin sets and uncirculated coin sets to commemorate the Birth centenary of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The Proof coin-sets are priced at Rs.8,101/- and the uncirculated coin sets are priced at Rs.7,667/-.