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Lal Bahadur Shastri (born 1904) succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister of India in 1964. Though eclipsed by such stalwarts of the Congress party as Kamaraj (the Kingmaker) and Morarji Desai, Finance Minister in Nehru's government, Shastri emerged as the consensus candidate in the midst of party warfare. He had not been in power long before he had to attend to the difficult matter of Pakistani aggression, as represented by India, along the Rann of Kutch; and though a cease-fire under the auspices of the United Nations put a temporary halt to the fighting, the scene of conflict soon shifted to the more troubled spot of Kashmir. While Pakistan claimed that a spontaneous uprising against the Indian occupation of Kashmir had taken place, India charged Pakistan with fomenting sedition inside its territory and sending armed raiders into Jammu and Kashmir from Azad Kashmir. Shastri promised to meet force with force, and by early September the second Indo-Pakistan war had commenced.
Though the Indian army reached the outskirts of Lahore, Shastri agreed to withdraw Indian forces. He had always been identified with the interests of the working class and peasants since the days of his involvement with the freedom struggle, and now his popularity agree. But his triumph was short-lived: invited in January 1966 by the Russian Premier, Aleksei Kosygin, to Tashkent for a summit with General Muhammad Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan and commander of the nation's armed forces, Shastri suffered a fatal heart attack hours after signing a treaty where India and Pakistan agreed to not meddle in each other's internal affairs and "not to have recourse to force and to settle their disputes through
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peaceful means.
Shastri's body was brought back to India, and a memorial, not far from the national memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, was built to honor him. It says, in fitting testimony to Shastri, "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" ("Honor the Soldier, Honor the Farmer"). He is, however, a largely forgotten figure, another victim of the engineering of India's social memory by Indira Gandhi and her clan. The 27th of May 1964 is an unforgettable day in the history of India. On that day the citizens of Delhi woke and attended to their routine work. During the day came shocking news from Teen Moorti Bhavan. The first Prime Minister of free India, Jawaharlal Nehru, lived in Teen Moorti Bhavan; the citizens learnt that he had a heart attack.
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'After Nehru, Who?’ A few months before Nehru had suffered a mild heart attack. But he had recovered from it quickly. He was certain that he would live for some more years.
But he passed away on May 27, 1964.
Nehru was no more. It was unbelievable but true. One question echoed from Kashmir to Kanyakumari: 'After Nehru, who?'
The leaders of the ruling party, the Congress Party, thought deeply over the question. They counted a few suitable names on their fingers. Which of them was the best choice? Who could be the Prime Minister?
Finally all the leaders came to the decision that Lal Bahadur Shastri was the only person to pilot the nation at such critical times.Lal Bahadur never praised himself. On the contrary he used to say: "I am an ordinary man and not a very bright man." He never aspired to power. He never worked for it.And yet power and authority came in search of him. Fame set a crown on his head.
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The short man grew into a colossus. He showed by his work that, though he was tender like a flower, he could be hard as diamond, too. He filled the Four Corners of the world with the fame of India. At a time when the world sang his praises as a hero, an incomparable patriot-hero and as the architect of peace, and just as he touched the peak of his life, Lal Bahadur passed away all too suddenly. He came to power unexpectedly, and he left the world equally suddenly.
Lal Bahadur was a star of great brightness in the history of India, After his death the President of India conferred on him, on behalf of the nation, the award of ' Bharat Ratna'; it was a most fitting.
A small bodies but mighty man-so runs a kannada proverb. It applies to several great men. Shivaji was not tall. But like a magnet he attracted people,and organized and built a great empire. Napoleon was short. But he shook the whole world. Lal Bahadur Shastri was not taller than those two; but he was not second to them in greatness. Firmness, love of adventure, patience and skill in administration cannot be acquired in a day or a year. Only when we study his growth from childhood can we understand how he acquired all these qualities.
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