History
Life of Lal Bahadur Shastri ji
06:32 |
| Lal Bahadur Shastri (Image: India.com) |
After the death of India’s first Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar
Lal Nehru on May 17, 1964 a very big question arrived in front of the country.
The question was that who will now become Prime Minister of India.
Gulzarilal Nanda was made caretaker Prime Minister of India.
At that point of time, K .Kamraj was the speaker of cabinet and the decision
for choice of Prime Minister lied on him strongly. Morarji Desai wanted to become the Prime
Minister of India but due to his past records and his immediate responses, K.
Kamraj and many other ministers didn’t want him to take that position. On the
other hand, Lal Bahadur Shastri had come into cabinet through portfolio and
this was in its favor that more people were in his support.
Morarji Desai wanted voting but K. Kamraj said that it could
spoil the image of party, so he personally conversed with many ministers and on
June 1, 1964 he told Morarji Desai about the decision for which Morarji Desai
had to agree. Majority was on the favor of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Then, our country got its second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur
Shastri. He belonged to a very poor family. His own daughter had died because
they hadn’t enough money to buy medicines. He took loan to buy a small car when
he became Prime Minister.
On June 2, 1964 Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri took oath
and took India in his hands. With this, K. Kamraj also put Cabinet above Prime
Minister’s powers. Now, Lal Bahadur Shastri couldn’t exercise the powers that
Nehru used to.
People used to call him weak. On his first press conference,
some journalists talked to him as if he was a low ranked person and not a Prime Minister.
He felt offended and never did any Press conference after this.
In cabinet, various ministers used to offend him and he didn’t
get respect which he deserved. Lal Bahadur Shastri has never feared of any critic
but always found anything for improvement.
In 1964-1965, India was suffering from Food disaster. He gave
a new idea to the country at that time. The idea was to fast a day in a week. He
gave this idea after trying on his own children. When he found that his
children too can live without food for a day, he decided to announce this idea publicly.
At his own residence, in his lawn, he did farming with bulls
himself. He gave message to people that the land possessed by them should be
used effectively to produce food.
In 1965, Pakistan crossed international border in Gujarat
and occupied Rann of Kutch and took away 75 sq. kilometers of area. It was on
August 5 that Lal Bahadur Shastri said that Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan wanted
to fight and we can’t leave them without teaching them any lesson in a talk
with ministers at his home.
On September 1, 1965 under operation grand slam, Pakistan
sent its army in Chhamb in Kashmir. This broke connection of Kashmir with
India. The only way to save Chhamb was with the help of air force to which
Defense Minister Y.B. Chauhan agreed and General Arjun Singh told that the Air-Force will get ready in half an hour and after an hour, air strikes held.
Pakistan tried to battle by indulging with all its efforts.
When water come up to head, Lal Bahadur Shastri gave
permission to Army Chief to cross International boundary as Pakistan did from
Gujarat and Punjab. India occupied 710 sq. kilometers of area of Pakistan.
Due to international pressure, when battle was over Shastri
on October 21, 1965 went to Allahabad. This time people were appreciating him
and he was not a weak leader now for them.
Lal Bahadur Shastri said in his speech that like the
soldiers are shedding their blood, farmers have to work hard too. He gave
slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” which became famous and ideal for farmers.
On borders, there used to be ceasefire. On January 4, 1966
to January 10, 1966 Lal Bahadur Shastri went to Tashkent to attend a meeting
with Pakistan hosted by USSR. There he agreed on the contract that both the
countries will come to their original places. International borders should be
in the way they used to be on the behalf of India. He signed on it. On January
10 at night, he called home and talked with his wife and told them to send
newspaper to Lahore too.
Next morning, only the news came that our second Prime
Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent due to heart attack!
0 comments