New Delhi: Today marks the birth anniversary of India’s second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was born on October 2, 1904, in Uttar Pradesh’s Mughalsarai.
He joined the freedom struggle in 1920 and participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921.
Here is remembering Lal Bahadur Shastri:
1. In 1930, Shastri participated in the Salt Satyagraha, for which he was imprisoned for more than two years. He became a loyal follower, first of Mahatma Gandhi and then of Jawaharlal Nehru.
2. He participated in the 1942 Quit India Movement as India raised its demand for the British to leave.
3. He became the Prime Minister in 1964 after Jawaharlal Nehru’s demise and led India during the war with Pakistan in 1965. As the prime minister, he stopped drawing his salary during the war between India and Pakistan in 1965, when the nation was facing a food shortage.
4. Shastri was also responsible for the White Revolution, a campaign that supported the production of milk. In 1965, he also promoted the Green Revolution in India with the aim of farmers’ prosperity and to make India self-reliant in foodgrain production. Green Revolution remains the model operation in India that benefited the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
5. Shastri continues to inspire India’s farmers and soldiers as he is the man behind the iconic slogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”.
