I bet you forgot – II
On this day, please take a moment to remember India’s most unassuming, modest and hard-working Prime Minister:
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Image courtesy: Uday Kuckian, Rediff
The man who put forward the example of “moral responsibility” as Union Minister for Railways
A man with an unparalleled sense of duty and honour:
The man who ushered in the Green Revolution (grain) – and the White Revolution (milk).
Unfortunately Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death remains shrouded in mystery:
NEW DELHI: Nearly 45 years after former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent, mystery continues to shroud the circumstances around his death. In reply to a RTI query, the PMO said it had one document relating to Shastri’s death but refused to declassify it.
Incidentally, the PMO has cited exemption from disclosure on the plea that it could harm foreign relations, cause disruption in the country and cause breach of parliamentary privileges. Significantly, while officially Shastri is declared to have died of a cardiac arrest, his wife Lalita Shastri had alleged that her husband was poisoned. Shastri died on January 11, 1966.
Reminded me of another mystery: Let the truth be known: What really happened to Netaji?
Somewhat Related: The original “I bet you forgot”
Bonus: Sheela Bhatt in conversation with Anil Shastri, Sh Lal Bahadur Shastri’s son. Also read: “Does anyone remember this man?“
This obsession with one family is the reason for all this.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/138336/Home-truths-for-Rahul-Gandhi.html
From Atanu Deys blog
http://www.deeshaa.org/2010/09/29/readings-a-few-home-truths-for-indians/
In what is clearly an indictment of PV Narasimha Rao, one of India’s greatest Prime Ministers, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi declared a couple of weeks ago that the Babri Masjid would have been saved if a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family had been in active politics at that time. Though Mr Gandhi has belatedly tried to make some amends, this incident has once again brought to the fore the feudal mindset of members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, their insecurities (which prevent them from acknowledging the contribution of leaders outside their family) and their persistent efforts to distort historical truths.
It is also the humble Kamaraj’s birthday who also did a lot.
Suhas,
Nice that you remembered Kamraj. But he died on Oct 2.
No, I have not forgotten any one of them.
It is very unfortunate that the self proclaimed keepers of Indian prestige have.
Shastri was just one name in the long list of martyrs at the alter of “phemili”. The kind of heart attacks that turn the body blue only happen to such sacrifices.
On a hindight, PMO’s refusal to share the document on the basis of foreign relationship may look strange, but think about this for a moment. What are the stakes here? Stakes are our Balidan ki Devi and the dimpled prince who wish to produce thousands of Obamas in India. Both are foreigners and if they are disturbed, foreign relationship is disturbed….deeply.
Someone mentioned Kamraj here. Why would anyone miss Kamraj escapes me. It was Kamraj who promoted Indira to contain his political rival Morarji Desai. It was also Kamraj who would later tell a politician “the little girl has no brain”. If that little girl was made to understand her position and Desai actually was allowed to take reign (with his strong moral inflexibility I am not sure if he would have been more effective than Nehru, but it is a different question), India could have avoided disasters like current dynasties (yes, plural), legacy of emergency, a corrupt bureaucracy, a spine-less media and an indifferent judiciary.
The important point here is the deliberate destruction of evidence by successive Kkangress govts.–burning of N.S.C.Bose file by the PMO, non-availability of President F.A.Ahmed’s Proclamation of Emergency (requested thro RTI), burning down of an archives building in New Delhi recently and also loss of entire material pertaining to the 1971 war.
Ramaswamy, Thanks for the correction. Yes , Sid, Kamaraj was the king maker that time. But the way Indira Gandhi treated him later was for all to see. This is called dynastic feudal arrogance. One thing I gather from my friends from TN was Kamaraj had not passed even high school, but he could do a lot for education in that state.
Regarding L B Shastri, i remember during my college days, his trip to Tashkent, and he was poisoned.The newspapers said so every moment, but the issue was never taken up by our country.