Does anyone remember this man?
13 vs. 0
That is the number of advertisements I counted in today’s Times of India (Delhi edition). No points for guessing who was the man in the 13 ads. And no points for guessing who had zero ads mentioning him. At least one of you had anticipated this (see Uma’s comment here).
As I wrote last year, this man was easily India’s most unassuming, modest and hard-working Prime Minister..
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Image courtesy:Â 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).
And his 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:Â Let the truth be known: What really happened
* Of the 13 ads, 4 have the image of Madam Chairperson of the UPA along with PM and the relevant Minister; One of the four (Ministry of Panchayati Raj) has scored a double. It also has the image of late PM Rajiv Gandhi, along with UPA Chairperson. Â Remember free publicity at tax-payer’s expense?
Related Links:Â “Why has history forgotten this giant?” and “The politician who made no money“
Does one suspicion and comments of few that Sonia’s marriage to Rajeev was forced upon Indira Gandhi by KGB or Sonia’s family had links with Russians has any thing to do with it?
People in this great nation of every thing open has no knowledge of all important issues. Many be the mystery still surround his death, as he was not from Nehru family.
These longstanding mysteries are unlikely to be solved any further. However the memories of these great men, and women should be kept alive.That the collective memory of the nation is being erased and replaced by the Nehru-Maino clan is a tragedy.
In years to come, say 2111, who will India be forced to remember ..Manmohan Singh, KS DS ??
More importantly who will India remember with respect and reverence?
Come now, Shantanu. Did you do a comprehensive study of all Indian newspapers? Was this study published in a peer-reviewed liberal journal and duplicated by independent parties? Did that comprehensive study conclusively show the exact same pattern in rest all newspapers regarding such ads? If not, there’s no relevance of your post showing a 13-0 advertisement score in one newspaper, as if there’s a football match going on.
/tongue in cheek
@Sudha: So well said: “More importantly who will India remember with respect and reverence?” Indeed…
@Kaffir: I stand guilty as accused!!
@Kaffir
It takes time, effort and considerable expense to do a comprehensive and conclusive, peer reviewed data collection and presentation as you have suggested,
so pehaps you should do precisely that to refute or confirm the facts that have been stated by SB 🙂
I look at people like Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Lal Bahadur Shashtri, Subhash Bose etc, differently. They got what they deserved by choosing Congress and sticking to the Congress organization, Gandhis and Nehroos. There is nothing to pity or feel remorse for what they got and are getting post death.
@ JCMoola
I think your view is a bit harsh. The reality is that a much larger percentage of those in Congress in the 1940’s ,50’s and probably 60’s were more sincere and committed to the nation, than they are now.Speaking to some octogenarians will confirm that.
It must have been so difficult in those days of slow communication, dearth and general lack of information to know what the best course of action was. There was no viable alternative to Congress.And then there was the partition.Nothing else in India has caused so much chaos and pain to so many for so long. The scars are still there waiting to be healed.
But I agree the rot sets in from the top, especially from Nehru personally, and then his descendants.
Sudhav, perhaps you missed the context of my comment (it was a dig at someone named Bhagwad Jal Park who regularly trolls this blog) and the “tongue in cheek” I wrote at the end. 🙂
@ Sudhav… Yes, my comment might be harsh. But I still think that these people aligned with Nehroo/ Congress. These people would have had aligned with Congress to serve the nation. But still they aligned with an organization that was created by Britishers and chose to function under a system that was designed by Britishers. They chose to follow law, rules and regulation of Britishers designed to benefit British Christians. Bose Reacted quite late while the rest chose to follow brown British. Congress was the brown britisher and other parties are more dark and more brown… Very British and true brownville. FTI is much more ahead of Congress when it comes to display of intent to implement western systems and language.
One should read the biography of Bhagat Singh, how he exposed the motives of congress.
@ Ashish: Bravery can be expected from Sikh only. Any link to his views?
Unfortunately not many do… Here is a great story about him.. http://www.facebook.com/wahsarkar#!/photo.php?fbid=170562189677279&set=a.156463291087169.37528.138557286211103&type=1&theater
And here is the man that people care about now
http://www.wahsarkar.com/2011/10/open-letter-from-anna-hazare-to-all-indians/
Placing this link here for the record: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?224865 (Inder Malhotra on Shastri’s premiership)
Also these 2 comments https://satyameva-jayate.org/2011/11/09/distant-assam-mainland-india/#comment-261345 and https://satyameva-jayate.org/2011/11/09/distant-assam-mainland-india/#comment-261379
A brief extract from Success sans ethics By S Gurumurthy:
..The aristocrat Nehru never faced financial stress. Shastri, a poor man with a large family, was ever-stressed. Yet, born poor, he lived and died as one, despite being Union home minister and prime minister.
Known as the ‘homeless home minister’ of India, he had rented a house in Lucknow and lived in a government house in Delhi. Shastri occupied just two small rooms of 10’x20’ in the government accommodation, both opening into a backyard porch with a huge mango tree under which only his sons got married.
When Shastri resigned as Union railway minister owning ‘moral responsibility’ for accidents, he forthwith surrendered his official car, stood in a queue in a bus stand for a bus to his home.
After he had resigned under the Kamaraj Plan, Ramnath Goenka saw him waiting for a bus again and drove him home.
Goenka used to recall Shastri tearfully as the decline had started after him. An illustrious Shastri had kept his personal life and political office of the prime minister he had held, clean, investing both with the highest moral authority.