Lal

Bahadur Shastri Biography

Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of free India
and was also a prominent leader of the Indian National
Congress. This biography offers detailed information on his
childhood, political career, achievements, life and timeline.
Quick Facts
Famous as

Former Prime Minister of India

Nationality

Indian

Religion

Hinduism

Political
ideology

Socialist

Born on

02 October 1904 AD

Zodiac Sign

Libra

Born in

Ramnagar, Varanasi, United Provinces, British

Raj

Died on

11 January 1966 AD

Place of death

Tashkent, Soviet Union (now in Uzbekistan)

Father

Sharada Prasad Srivastava

Mother

Ramdulari Devi

Spouse:

Lalita Devi

Children

Kusum, Hari Krishna, Suman, Anil, Sunil and

Ashok

Awards

Bharat Ratna

Lal Bahadur Shastri was an Indian political leader who served

as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of India.
Influenced by prominent Indian national leaders like Mahatma
Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, he plunged into the Indian
independence movement in early 1920s. Before becoming the
Prime Minister of India, he served in a number of other
departments like the railway ministry and the home ministry.
With his policies of non alignment and socialism and influences
of Nehruvian socialism in his political thinking, Shastri became
one of the most loved political leaders of all times. He coined
the famous slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan during the IndoPakistan war of 1965. His death is still considered as a mystery
for nobody knows under what circumstances he died. He died
while he was in the process of signing the Tashkent Agreement
on 10 January 1966 - the formal declaration of the end of IndoPak war. He is the only Indian Prime Minister to have died in
office overseas. He was the first person to be posthumously
awarded the India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.
Childhood & Early Life
Shastri was born in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh to Sharada
Prasad and Ramdulari Devi. His father was a clerk in the
Revenue Office of Allahbad but died when Shastri was
only a year old. He was raised along with his two sisters
by his mother.
He studied at the East Central Railway Inter College in
Varanasi and later graduated from Kashi Vidyapeeth in

1926. Soon after, he joined the Servants of the People

Society which was founded by a prominent nationalist
leader of that time - Lala Lajpath Rai.
Care e r
Shastri became a part of Indian independence movement
in 1920s and was driven by the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi.
He joined Gandhis famous Salt Satyagraha in 1930, for
which he was sent to the prison for two and a half years.
T hat did not deter him from working as the Organizing
Secretary of the Parliamentary Board of U.P. in 1937. He
was again sent to prison for a year for being a part of the
nationalist Satyagraha movement.
He was again imprisoned in 1942 for joining Mahatma
Gandhis Quit India Movement and instructing freedom
fighters

from

Jawaharlal

Nehrus

house. He was

imprisoned this time for 4 years.

In 1947, Shastri was appointed as the Police and
Transport minister of Uttar Pradesh.
He was made the General Secretary of the All-India
Congress Committee in 1951. Later next year, he was
elected to Rajya Sabha and was made the Minister of
Railways and Transport.
Although the Railways and Transport of India flourished
under him but he resigned from the post in 1952, taking
responsibility for a railway accident in Tamil Nadu in which
approximately 112 people died.
In 1957, he was again elected to the cabinet as the
Commerce and Industry minister and within 4 years he
was chosen for the prestigious post of Home Minister.
When Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India,
died in office in 1964, the Congress Party President K.
Kamaraj put Shastris name forward for the post of the
Prime Minister. He was elected the Prime Minister of India
the same year.
Under his tenure as the Prime Minister, Shastri lead the

country during India-Pakistan war in 1965 and it was

during this war that he coined the slogan Jai Jawan Jai
Kishan . It soon began the national slogan.
After the ceasefire with Pakistan was declared in 1965, he
attended a summit in Tashkent with the Pakistani
President Muhammad Ayub Khan. Later next year, both
the leaders signed the Tashkent Declaration.
Major Works
Shastri dealt with many basic problems during his tenure
in various ministries - food shortage, unemployment and
poverty. To overcome the acute food shortage, he devised
a long-term strategy - "Green Revolution". Apart from the
Green Revolution, he also helped in promoting the White
Revolution.
Aw ards & Achie v e m e nts
Shastri was the first person to be posthumously awarded
India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.
Pe rsonal Life & Le gacy
Shastri married Lalita Devi from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh in
1928. He had six children with herKusum, Hari Krishna,
Suman, Anil, Sunil and Ashok. T he family lost Ashok when
he was only 37 years old.
He died in Tashkent in 1966, the day after signing the
Tashkent Declaration, reportedly due to a heart attack, but
his death remains a mystery.
Triv ia
T he National Dairy Development Board was formed in
1965 during Shastri reign as Prime Minister.
Varanasi International Airport is named after him.