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116th Birth Anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri

As India is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, tribute poured in for India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as this year marks the 116th birth anniversary of Shastri. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and many political leaders paid their tribute to the former Prime Minister at Vijay Ghat, […]

116th Birth Anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri
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As India is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, tribute poured in for India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as this year marks the 116th birth anniversary of Shastri.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and many political leaders paid their tribute to the former Prime Minister at Vijay Ghat, New Delhi.

Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on October 2, 1904, in Mughalsarai, UP. Youngest among his siblings, Lal Bahadur Shastri had a hard childhood and educated himself while facing various difficulties in his early days.

Shastri was not his real surname. It was a title conferred on him by Kashi Vidyapeeth, for his expertise in Sanskrit.

Lal Bahadur Shastri was a Gandhian and both of them together contributed to the significant movements which led to the Independence from the colonial rule.

He along with Mahatma Gandhi participated actively in the British Quit India Movement from Gandhi to Non-Cooperation Movement from 1921 to 1942.

Despite being arrested several times, being subjected to police action and being lodged in jail, he remained dedicated to his path and led India to its freedom in 1947.

Shastri moved to New Delhi in 1951 and took several charges departments of the first Union cabinet. In Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet, he held several portfolios like Minister of Railways, Transport and Communications Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister, and Home Minister.

His slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ became the war-cry of millions of people when India was at war with China in 1962. During the Sino-Indian war of 1962, it was this cry that highlighted the importance of farmers and soldiers to the rest of the country.

Lal Bahadur Shastri died in the year 1966, at the age of 62, in Tashkent, 12 hours after signing a peace treaty with Pakistan.

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