Ankur Nikam
Lal Bahadur Shastri, born on Oct 2, 1904 in Mughalsarai, UP, dropped his caste surname and earned the title ‘Shastri’ from Kashi Vidyapeeth.
Shastri, a devoted Gandhian, actively joined the Non-Cooperation and Quit India movements and was arrested several times during India’s freedom struggle.
He was UP’s Police Minister who introduced water jets for crowd control, and as Union Minister, reversed his son’s undue job promotion.
He became the Second Prime Minister of the country after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. His tenure was brief but very critical for the country.
In his short tenure as PM, he tackled food shortage and led India through the 1965 Indo-Pak war, pushing for self-sufficiency.
He coined the iconic slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ to inspire soldiers and farmers, still powerful 75 years after Independence.
He laid India’s economic foundation with the White Revolution, creating NDDB to boost milk production, and the Green Revolution, driving farm technology for food self-sufficiency.
He signed the Tashkent Declaration with Pakistan on Jan 10, 1966, to end the war, but passed away soon after in Tashkent, USSR (now Uzbekistan).
He died mysteriously on Jan 11, 1966, officially of a heart attack. His death remains disputed. He received the Bharat-Ratna posthumously.
100 Years Of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)