Lal Bahadur Shastri Biography: Lal Bahadur Shastri was an Indian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of India. He played a significant role in the country’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule and later in shaping its post-independence destiny.
Lal Bahadur Shastri Biography: Lal Bahadur Shastri was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the second Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as the sixth Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963. His simplicity, integrity and excellent leadership during Indo-Pakira War in 1965 earned him the respect of the nation.
The leader known for his slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” emphasized the importance of both soldiers and farmers for nation building and development. This biography on the life of Lal Bahadur Shashti will shed light on his personal life, political career, achievements and legacy.
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Lal Bahadur Shastri Biography
On October 2, 1904, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri was born in Mughalsarai, a small railway town in Uttar Pradesh located seven miles from Varanasi. Lal Bahadur Shastri’s father was a teacher who died when he was only one and a half years old. His mother, who was still in her twenties, moved into his father’s house with her three children.
Name | Lal Bahadur Shashtri |
Father’s name | Sharada Prasad Srivastav |
Mother’s name | Ram Dulari Devi |
date of birth | October 2, 1904 |
Birth place | Mughalsarai |
Nickname | Nanhe |
Nationality | Indian |
Husband | Lalita Shastri |
children | 6 |
Profession | Politician |
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Label | 2nd Prime Minister of India 3. Minister of Foreign Affairs 6. Minister of the Interior 3. Minister of Railways |
Death | January 11, 1966 |
Monuments | Vijay Ghat |
Prizes | Bharat Ratna (1966) |
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Lal Bahadur Shastri: Political Career
Lal Bahadur Shastri joined the freedom struggle after being motivated by his teacher Nishkameshwar Prasad Mishra. Shastri attended a public meeting in Benares held by Gandhi and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya in January 1921 when he was in class 10 and three months away from his final exams. As a Congress Party volunteer, he was part of the non-cooperation movement.
He interrupted his studies and joined the movement for independence. In line with Gandhi’s teachings, he fought for the betterment of the lives of Harijans as a member of Lala Lajpat Rai’s Society of Servants of the People (Lok Sevak Mandal).
Shastri joined the Society of Servants of the People (Lok Sevak Mandal) founded by Lala Lajpat Rai as a life member and started working in Muzaffarpur under Gandhi’s leadership to improve the lives of Harijans. Later he became the president of the Society.
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Political career
state minister
In his native Uttar Pradesh, Shastri was elected Parliamentary Secretary. On 15 August 1947, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai left to become a minister at the centre, and was appointed Minister of Police and Transport under Govind Ballabh Pant. He was the first to appoint female conductors as Minister of Transport. While he was the minister in charge of the Police Department, he instructed the police to use water jets and not batons to disperse disorderly masses. While he was Minister of Police (or Minister of Home Affairs, as it was called before 1950), the communal riots of 1947 were successfully quelled, as well as mass migration and resettlement of refugees.
cabinet minister
Shastri was appointed General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in 1951 when Jawaharlal Nehru was the head of state. He was instrumental in the resounding victories of the Congress Party in the Indian general elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962. He successfully contested for the UP Vidhansabha in 1952 from the Soraon North/Phulpur West constituency and won with over 69% of the votes. Thought to retain his position as UP Home Minister, Nehru unexpectedly invited him to the center as a minister. On 13 May 1952, Shastri was appointed Minister of Railways and Transport in the first Cabinet of the Republic of India.
In 1959, he was Minister of Trade and Industry, and in 1961, Minister of the Interior. Shastri founded Mangalore Port in 1964 while he was a minister without portfolio.
Prime Minister
Nehru died on May 27, 1964 while still in power. Shastri became Prime Minister on 9 June under Congress Party President K. Kamaraj. Shastri was a Nehruvian socialist who was mild-mannered and soft-spoken, which made him attractive to those hoping to prevent conservative right-winger Morarji Desai from winning office.
In his first broadcast as Prime Minister, on 11 June 1964, Shastri stated:
“There comes a moment in the life of every nation when it finds itself at the crossroads of history and must choose which path to take. But for us there should be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking right or left. Our path is straight and clear to build a socialist democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all, and to maintain world peace and friendship with all nations.”
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Shastri married Lalita Devi on 16 May 1928. The couple had four boys and two daughters, including Kusum Shastri, Hari Krishna Shastri, who was the eldest daughter, and Suman Shastri, who was the eldest son. Shastri, who was 5 feet 2 inches tall, always wore a dhoti. The only time he wore pajamas was in 1961 at a banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in honor of the Queen of the United Kingdom.
On January 11, 1966, Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (then the Soviet Union), just one day after agreeing to a peace treaty that ended the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War. He was honored as a national hero and the Vijay Ghat monument was built in his honour. He also received the Bharat Ratna posthumously.
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