Trouble-shooter in turbulent times

Amarjot Kaur

In its seventeenth year of Independence, in 1964, at the time when Lal Bahadur Shastri was sworn in as India’s second Prime Minister, the country struggled to buffer the blows of economic devastation inflicted on it by 200 years of colonialism. Within a year of holding the prime minister’s office, Shastri led the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, hailing "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" throughout the war that formally ended with the Tashkent Agreement on 10 January 1966. He died the following day, still in Tashkent. The cause of death was said to be a heart attack, arguably.

Almost 52 years after his father’s death, Shastri’s son Anil Shastri, former union minister and the Congress leader, is in quest of closure. Titled Lal Bahadur Shastri Lessons In Leadership, Anil, along with his writer friend Pavan Choudary, has co-authored a book detailing the biographical account of his father’s life, as a prime minister, and more importantly, as a leader.

In Chandigarh, to announce the release of his first book, Anil talks about modern-day politics, his father’s work ethics, and more.

Shastri, mild-mannered and soft-spoken, was a Nehruvian socialist. Anil makes no bones while talking about his father’s political accomplishments and moral integrity. “If Shastri ji had completed his five years as the PM of this country, India would have been a different country,” he says, while adding, “He gave to India Border Security Force, administrative reforms commission, CBI and CBC.” Anil is constantly reminded of his father’s involvement in the country’s affairs, especially during wartime, and shares an interesting anecdote: “He was visiting soldiers, during the war, and met Major Bhupinder Singh who was critically injured. Soon after Shastri ji asked about his well-being, Bhupinder ji welled up, leaving my father perplexed. He was upset because he could not stand up and salute the PM of his country.”

The political atmosphere haunts the living daylights out of Anil. He is of the opinion that if Shastri ji were alive, he’d be a sad man looking at the present political situation of the nation. “Twenty years ago, even I couldn’t believe that the core moral values of Indian politics would degenerate to this extent,” he opines.

Though Anil paints a descriptively worded image of Lal Bahadur Shastri, he is tormented by the circumstances that led to Shastri’s death just a day after the Tashkent Agreement was signed. “He was made to stay 20 kms away from the city. He didn’t have a bell in his room. He walked to the doctor when he got unwell and his face had turned blue. There were white spots on either sides of his forehead, which happens either in case of brain haemorrhage or snakebite. Also, the post-mortem wasn’t done. And, his diary never came back. My mother regretted not going with him,” he says. Anil vehemently opposes any comparison drawn between Modi and Shastri. “My father was a simpleton, from humble background and he didn’t wear expensive clothes like Modi does. Also, he never sold his humble origins and poverty for votes.”

amarjot@tribunemail.com