Lal Bahadur Shastri Biography

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 took part in the Indian independence movement in the 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, Shastri became one of the most loved political leaders of all time. He coined the famous slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” during the ‘Indo-Pakistan War’ of 1965. His death is still considered a mystery for no one knows under what circumstances he died. He died on 11 January 1966, a day after signing the ‘Tashkent Agreement,' the formal declaration of the end of Indo-Pak war. He is the only Indian prime minister to have died in office overseas (Soviet Union). He became the first person to be posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honor ‘Bharat Ratna.’