Essays

His story has a humble beginning. It is a sordid tale that tells us how a down-to-earth and honest person can hold the world in awe of his personality. Born in 1904, in a family with little means, Lal Bahadur Shastri proved by his mettle that the world should not take short-statured men lightly.

A man of sound education with strong principles, he succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister of India in 1964- Though eclipsed by stalwarts in the Congress tike Kamraj and Morarji Desai (then Finance Minister in Nehru's Government), Shastri emerged as the consensus candidate in the midst of party warfare> He had not been in power for long when he had to attend to the difficult matter of Pakistani aggression along the Ranch of Kutch, Though a ceasefire under the auspices of the United Nations put a temporary halt to the fighting, the scene of conflict soon shifted to the more troubled territory of Kashmir.

There was bungling of the facts and misrepresentation by Pakistan- It claimed that a spontaneous uprising against the Indian occupation of Kashmir had taken place. On the other hand/ India charged Pakistan with fomenting sedition inside its territory and sending armed raiders into Jammu and Kashmir from Azad Kashmir, A tough man as Shastri was, he promised to meet force with force, and by early September the Second Indo-Pakistan war had commenced.

Fighting against all odds, the Indian Army reached the outskirts of Lahore. Undoubtedly, it had proved its competence and patriotism. Under international pressure for maintaining peace and harmony in the region, Shastri agreed to withdraw the Indian forces. Since the days of his involvement in the freedom struggle, Shastri had always identified with the interests of the working class and peasants. He was the mentor of the slogan Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'. India's triumph in the Indo-Pak conflict made his popularity reach dizzy heights. Unfortunately, Shastri's stupendous happiness was shortlived. A fatal incident was about to happen which change the course of his destiny.

Shastri was invited in January 1966 by the Russian premier, Aleksee Kosygin to Tashkent for a summit with the general Ayub Khan, the President of Pakistan- He suffered a fatal heart attack, hours after signing a treaty where India and Pakistan agreed "not to meddle in each other's internal affairs and not to have recourse to force and to settle their disputes through peaceful means".

In the backdrop of the historic agreement, Shastri's body was brought back to India, and d memorial, not far from the National Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, was built to honour him. In a fitting testimony to his vision of adulation and respect to the farmers and the soldiers, the memorial pays obeisance to the indelible spirit of the farmer and the soldier.

But inspite of all his achievements, Shastri is largely a forgotten figure in the hustle and bustle of Indian politics. After his untimely demise, Indira Gandhi was chosen as a compromise candidate to head the Congress government. There was infighting within the Congress at this time. But Indira Gandhi took the reigns of the party and the country in her hands.