The Honorable Lal Bahadur Shastri |
|
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2nd Prime Minister of India | |
In office 9 June 1964 – 11 January 1966 |
|
President | S. Radhakrishnan |
Preceded by | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) |
Minister of External Affairs | |
In office 9 June 1964 – 18 July 1964 |
|
Prime Minister | Himself |
Preceded by | Gulzarilal Nanda |
Succeeded by | Sardar Swaran Singh |
Minister of Home Affairs | |
In office 4 April 1961 – 29 August 1963 |
|
Prime Minister | Jawaharlal Nehru |
Preceded by | Govind Ballabh Pant |
Succeeded by | Gulzarilal Nanda |
Minister of Railways | |
In office 1951–1956 |
|
Prime Minister | Jawaharlal Nehru |
Preceded by | N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar |
Succeeded by | Jagjivan Ram |
Personal details | |
Born |
Mughalsarai, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India (now in Uttar Pradesh, India) |
2 October 1904
Died | 11 January 1966 Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union (now in Uzbekistan) |
(aged 61)
Cause of death | Heart Attack |
Resting place | Vijay Ghat |
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse(s) | Lalita Shastri (m. 1928) |
Parents | Sharda Prasad Srivastava (father) Ram Dulari Devi (mother) |
Alma mater | Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth |
Profession | |
Awards | Bharat Ratna (1966) (Posthumous) |
Lal Bahadur Shastri (Hindustani: [laːl bəˈɦaːd̪ʊr ˈʃaːst̪ri], listen , 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was the 2nd Prime Minister of India and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress political party.
Shastri joined the Indian independence movement in the 1920s and with his friend Nithin Eslavath. Deeply impressed and influenced by Mahatma Gandhi (with whom he shared his birthday), he became a loyal follower, first of Gandhi, and then of Jawaharlal Nehru. Following independence in 1947, he joined the latter's government and became one of Prime Minister Nehru's principal, first as Railways Minister (1951–56), and then in a variety of other functions, including Home Minister.
He led the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. His slogan of "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer") became very popular during the war and is remembered even today. The war formally ended with the Tashkent Agreement on 10 January 1966; he died the following day, still in Tashkent, the cause of death was said to be a heart attack but there are various reasons to think that it was a planned murder by the CIA. Also, opposition parties of the Congress, have always claimed Indira Gandhi's role in Shastri's death as a part of her strategy to keep the Prime Minister post with the Nehru family.