Lal Bahadur Shastri Death Anniversary: Remembering The Creator of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’

11
Jan

Lal Bahadur Shastri Death Anniversary: Remembering The Creator of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’

"There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the crossroads of history and must choose which way to go."

Lal Bahadur Shashtri, the man who idealised truth in politics died this day. Today we celebrate #lalbahadurshastrijayanti the death of India’s second Prime Minister and remember him for his countless contributions to the nation.

Shastri, the great freedom fighter and the giver of ‘jai jawan jai kisan’ which still is the moral of Indian farmers died on 11th January 1966 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Shastri was only 16 when he joined the National Cooperation Movement and till then he believed in Gandhi’s sayings- Hard work is equal to prayer.

Being one of the most humble PM in the history, he is known for his subtle attitude towards common people, his teachings to farmers, soldiers and every other commoner.

He was the one who promoted the White Revolution and supported the Amul co-operative in Gujarat and also created the National Dairy Development Board.

Not only the white revolution but he also did his part in promoting the condition of India’s overall food production. Promoting the Green Revolution in 1965, he made sure that the quality and quantity of the food reaches every state especially in states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

He believed in the ideology of “True democracy or the swaraj of the masses can never come through untruthful and violent means, for the simple reason that the natural corollary to their use would be to remove all opposition through the suppression or extermination of the antagonist."

Shastri became India’s Prime Minister in May 1964 just after Jawaharlal Nehru’s death.

Today is the 55th death anniversary of India’s then PM but the reason of his death still remains suspicious to the world. What really is a matter of concern is what exactly happened in Tashkent on 11th January 1966, the mystery of Shastris’ death day still remains intact.

While stories of him being poisoned floods in air, others point a finger at one of his close friends. Even after several RTI and many other suspicious theories, the answer is opaque.

The Indian government reported cardiac arrest to be the reason of his death but his family still remains unconvinced with the proffered reason.

In 2018, Congress leader and Shastri’s son Anil Shastri demanded the declassification of all the documents related to his father’s death. Anil also demanded publicizing the findings of the Raj Narayan Committee which was assigned to look after Shastri’s death. The BJP government however stalled his demands and did not release the documents.

Till then several books namely Lal Bahadur Shastri: Lessons in leadership and Your Prime Minister is Dead has been released, the question that why his body was not forensically examined still concurs with a million minds.

Tashkent files, the Indian thriller-suspense movie starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Basu Prasad and Mithun Chakraborty is an attempt to investigate the happenings of the day when Shastri died, and decode the rumoured conspiracies.

Shastri was a man of integrity, honour and was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1966.

Even though Shastri served the nation for 19 months as PM, he is India’s unforgettable voice.

January 11, 2021

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11
Jan