Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bhadur Shastri was the Prime Minister of India during June 9, 1964 - January 11, 1966. He was born on October 2, 1901 at Mughalsarai, a small railway town seven miles from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. His father was a school teacher who died when Lal Bahadur Shastri was only a year and half old. His mother, still in her twenties, took her three children to her father’s house and settled down there. Due to poverty, he had to walk several miles to schools on foot without shoes even when streets were hot in summer's heat.

He joined the Kashi Vidya Peeth in Varanasi, one of the many national institutions set up in defiance of the British rule. There, he came under the influence of the greatest intellectuals, and nationalists of the country. ‘Shastri’ was the bachelor’s degree awarded to him by the Vidya Peeth.

In 1927, he got married. His wife, Lalita Devi, came from Mirzapur, near his home town. The wedding was traditional in all senses but one. A spinning wheel and a few yards of handspun cloth was all the dowry. The bridegroom would accept nothing more.

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi marched to the sea beach at Dandi and broke the imperial salt law. With that the freedom struggle intensified in the country. Lal Bahadur Shastri threw himself into the struggle and led many defiant campaigns and spent a total of seven years in jails.

When the Congress Government was formed in 1946, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in his home State of Uttar Pradesh and soon rose to the position of Home Minister. He moved to New Delhi in 1951 and held several portfolios in the Union Cabinet - Minister for Railways, Minister for Transport and Communications, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Home Minister, and during Nehru’s illness Minister without portfolio.

Nearby pages
Lalaji Bay Beach, Lalande, Lalganj Lok Sabha Constituency, Lalganj Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Bihar, Lalganj Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Uttar Pradesh