Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri (October 2, 1904 - January 11, 1966) was the second Prime Minister of independent India and a significant figure in the struggle for independence.

Early Life and Freedom Struggle

Shashtriji was born in Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh in a Kayastha family. To take part in the non-cooperation movement of Mahatma Gandhi in 1921, he began studying at the nationalist, Kashi Vidyapeeth in Kashi, and upon completion, he was given the title Shastri, or Scholar, Doctor at Kashi Vidyapeeth in 1926. He spent almost nine years in jail in total, mostly after the start of the Satyagraha movement in 1940, he was imprisoned until 1946.

Political Career

Following India's independence, he was Home Minister under Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant of. In 1951, he was appointed General Secretary of the Lok Sabha before re-gaining a ministerial post as Railways Minister. He resigned as Minister following a rail disaster near Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu. He returned to the Cabinet following the General Elections, first as Minister for Transport, in 1961, he became Home Minister.

Rise to Premiership

Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on May 27, 1964 and left a vacuum. The major figures of the Congress Party were unable to find enough support which allowed the lesser regarded Shastri to come through as the compromise candidate, becoming Prime Minister on June 9. Shastri, though mild-mannered and soft-spoken, was a Nehruvian socialist and thus held appeal to those wishing to prevent the ascent of conservative right-winger Morarji Desai.

Shastri worked by his natural characteristics to obtain compromises between opposing viewpoints, but in his short tenure was ineffectual in dealing with the economic crisis and food shortage in the nation. However, he commanded a great deal of respect in the Indian populace, and he used it to advantage in pushing the Green Revolution in India; which directly led to India becoming a food-surplus nation, although he did not live to see it. His administration began on a rocky turf.

War with Pakistan

The chief problem for his administration was Pakistan. Laying claim to half of the Kutch peninsula, Pakistan sent incursion forces in August 1965, which skirmished with Indian tank divisions. Under a scheme proposed by the British PM, Pakistan obtained 10% of their original claim of 50%. But Pakistan's main aggressive intentions were upon Kashmir. Just in September 1965, major incursions of militants and Pakistani soldiers began, hoping not only to break-down the government but incite a sympathetic revolt. The revolt did not happen, and an angry India sent its forces across the Ceasefire Line (now Line of Control) and threatened Pakistan by crossing the International Border near Lahore as the war broke out on a general scale. Massive tank battles occurred in the Punjab, and while Pakistani forces made some gains, Indian forces captured the key post at Haji Pir, in Kashmir, and brought the Pakistani city of Lahore under artillery and mortar fire. The war also ended as a stalemate in a great personnel, material casualties and land lost for both Pakistan and India. The lands occupied by both armies were restored to status quo after Tashkent.

Tashkent Treaty

A ceasefire was declared, and the soft-spoken, mild-mannered Shastri, once butt of jokes was now a national hero. In January 1966 Shastri and Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan attended a summit in Tashkent (former USSR, now in modern Uzbekistan), organised by Kosygin. Shastri signed a treaty with Pakistan on January 10, the Tashkent Declaration, but the next day he died of a heart attack. He is the only Indian Prime Minister to have died in office overseas, and indeed probably one of the few heads of government in history. All his lifetime, he was known for his honesty and humility. There are conspiracy theories that mention his death to be of unnatural causes.

Memorial

He was the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna and a memorial "Vijay Ghat" was built for him in Delhi. The slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan (Hindi for "Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer") is attributed to Shastri.