02 October 2020 –
“We must fight for peace bravely as we fought in war.” – Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti
Lal Bahadur Shastri born on 2 October 1904 in Mughalsarai, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. His mother’s name was ‘Ramdulari’ while his father’s name was Sharada Prasad Srivastava, who was a School teacher. His father died of plague when he was only one year six months old.
Shastri Ji got a sense of patriotism from one teacher named ‘Nishkameshwar Prasad Mishra’. He was a very patriotic person and had much influence on Shastri Ji. Shastri Ji had gone to jail when he was only in the 10th standard but was soon released. He completed his degree in Philosophy from Kashi Vidyapith and got the title of ‘Shastri’ which later became his identity.
Shastri Ji joined Indian National Congress and went to jail for two and a half years for participating in various freedom struggles and movements. He always stayed in contact with Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the two prominent members of Congress.
After the independence of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji became the Minister of Police and Transport in his home state Uttar Pradesh. He brought many revolutionary changes in management like allowing women to work as a conductor, use of water jets to disperse crowd instead of Lathi charge, etc.
Shastri Ji worked as Prime Minister of India from 9 June 1964 to 11 January 1966. He died at Tashkent when he was there for signing the peace treaty to stop India Pakistan war in 1966. The cause of his death is still a mystery for the whole world.