The country is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and the 115th birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The year 2019 will mark 151th anniversary of Gandhi Ji and 116th Birth Anniversary of Shastri ji.
Lal Bahadur Shastri was the man who gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ to India. He brought a green revolution in the country. He was a true leader who followed an ideology and never comprised with it.
When you see any of his photographs you judge him easily as a simple and honest man. There are so many stories related to Lal Bahadur Shastri that tell us about his simplicity. According to one of those incidents once a peon of his school had slapped him. Let’s know what happened next.
What Happened When a Peon Slapped Shastri Ji
This incident took place when Shastri Ji was a student. During a science practical in high school Shastri Ji broke a beaker in the science lab. The peon caught him while doing this and slapped him hard. After many years of this incident in 1954, Shastri Ji saw that peon in one of his programs. The peon was embarrassed and tried to hide but as soon as Shastri Ji saw him, he called him on the stage and embraced him. It is just one of the stories related to Shahsri Ji’s affection to the fellow Indians, there many like this when the minister of cabinet and PM of India showed his simplicity.
The childhood of Shahtri Ji was not as comfortable as many of us had but he became the prime minister despite all the struggles. These struggles of his life made him an extraordinary man. Here we will tell you some facts about Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji, which will force you to think that how great our former leaders were!
Few Facts About Shastri Ji
- Shastri Ji was against the caste system so he dropped his surname. The word we use ‘Shastri’ is not his surname but a title that given him after the completion of his graduation at Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi in 1925.
- There is a well-known story about his ideas on the dowry system. He was so against to the dowry system that he accepted only a five-yard of Khadi cloth as dowry in his marriage and that too after the repeated urging of his father-in-law.
- Young Lal Bahadur Shastri was a freedom fighter and actively involved in all the movements led by Mahatma Gandhi. In pre-independence time he left his studies to take a part in the struggle of Independence. He led door to door campaign to tell people to stop paying tax to the British.
- Post independence, before elected as the prime minister of India, he served many positions in Indian government.
- He is the one who recommended water-jets instead of lathi charge to disperse the mob.
- His ideal was too high that he resigned from his post of Rail Minister when a rail accident happened during his working period. If you compare it with today’s scenario you can easily find the difference between today’s and that time leaders.
- As a rail minister, Shastri Ji had started fan and pantry facilities for the train passengers.
- Lal Bahadur Shastri emerged as the consensus candidate after the sudden demise of Nehru because of his honesty and devotion towards the country. His fellow politicians were as good as he was but his simplicity made him better than others.
Shastri Ji died in 1966 under some mysterious conditions, but he was such a great soul that we still get inspired from his life and ideology. When we read about a leader like Lal Bahadur Shastri a feeling of proud comes in our mind. India need more politicians like Shastri Ji. Leave politicians behind, we need more Indians like him.
