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About Lal Bahadur Shastri
Born on October 2nd, 1904, Lal Bahadur Shastri was the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant’s Parliamentary Secretary and became the second prime minister of independent India, after Jawaharlal Nehru.
He is significantly remembered in history for a number of reasons, one of which is his guts to muster up courage which led India to victory over the 1965 war against Pakistan.
It was he who coined the famous slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” during the war period and was known for his simplicity and great leadership qualities to stay calm and direct the country to win against its rivals in the war.
Coming from a relatively poor background, he lost his father when he was just one, and his mother raised Shastri and her two daughters on her own. During the non-cooperation movement led by Gandhi, Shastri was arrested but he was released as he was a minor (just 17 years old).
Jawaharlal Nehru appointed Shastri as the Railways and Transport Minister in the Central Cabinet, in the year 1952, and four years later, he resigned from that post. Later, he took various positions like the Minister for Transport and Communications, Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Home Minister, before becoming the Prime Minister of India, after Nehru’s death.