Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Forgotten Statesman

The day 2nd of October is generally remembered as the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi but only a few people remember that another great statesman, former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri shares this day with the father of the nation. Small of stature, simple and soft-spoken, Lal Bahadur proved to be one of the heroes of the history of India. The morals of selflessness, detachment and simplicity for which he stood have lost their value in Modern day India. For a man who restored India her honor and self- respect in the assembly of nations, the least we as a nation can do is to make sure that Lal Bahadur Shastri does not remain buried in only history text books.

Soft-spoken and mild mannered Lal Bahadur Shashtri became Prime Minister of India on June 9, 1964 after Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on May 27, 1964 and left a vacuum.

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.

Shastri's appeal to the nation to give up one meal in a day to evenly distribute food became a major success with the masses. If one person gives up one meal in a day, some other person gets his only meal of the day, he said.

Shastriji successfully led the nation during 22-day war with Pakistan in 1965. He gave the slogan of "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan", which led to a rare display of unity in the country during Indo-Pak war.

A generous man, he gave away all of his wealth and became advocate of land reform through land donations (Bhudaan). A devout Gandhian, he advocated social reform as a means to achieve self-reliance.

In today's time it’s hard to imagine that for a nation obsessed with the western goods like cars, clothes and other accessories India once had a down to earth leader who believed in the word simplicity in its true form.

In this age of power hungry politicians, Shastri was the first one to resign his post as Minister for Railways because he felt responsible for a railway accident in which many lives were lost. The unprecedented gesture was greatly appreciated by Parliament and the country.

Humble, tolerant, with great inner strength and resoluteness, he was a man of the people who understood their language. He was also a man of vision who led the country towards progress.

On January 10, 1966 he signed the historic Joint communiqué with President Agha Khan of Pakistan at Tashkent. Within few hours of the signing of the Declaration, the Hero of Tashkent passed away at Tashkent. The end came in the early hours at 1.32 a.m. on 11.1.1966. The great little man of masses died at the height of his career.

From: http://indiastandard.com/Opinion/Editorial/lal-bahadur-shastri.html