NOVEMBER 2020 FOCUS

BHARAT RATNA LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI- SEVAK TO PRADHAN SEVAK- A LIFE OF HONESTY & SIMPLICITY In one of his abrasive and arrogant moment Rajdeep Sardesai, of the then CNN/IBN television channel took upon himself the role of selecting the ‘Greatest Indian After Mahatma’. In a TRP driven world of television, this exercise was thought to be a kind of game changer for the channel. After all most journalists, especially in India, think ‘what we think today, India will think tomorrow’. Rajdeep Sardesai was no different. So he goes about listing 100 Indians of some name and fame. Then he only selects a panel of ‘eminent’ juries to prune the list to 50. The panel consisted of some 20 ‘intellectuals’, of which 14 of them were journous and writers, most of whom had their own intellectual baggage. The panel prunes the list to 50, after including few more names, which they felt Rajdeep Sardesai should have included in the first place. The pruned list was further filtered to make it a “List of 10 Great Indians after Mahatma” The list of these 10 eminent Indians was posted on the CNN/IBN website for the ‘great Indian public’ to vote according to their own perception of what constitutes greatness after Mahatma. Here it is pertinent to inform our readers that in his list of 100 greatest Indians Rajdeep Sardesai had included incredulously likes of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kaanshi Ram, naxalite Charu Majumdar, Tamil film actor Rajnikanth, Singer & Hindi –Bengali actor Kishore Kumar, separatist Naga leader Angami Zapu Phizo among others. It may not be pertinent for the subject in hand, who were those 10 greats and how our great public have voted. However, looking back, it is a matter of greatest shock and shame that not only this Rajdeep Sardesai exposed himself in not including Bharat Ratna Lal Bahadur Shastri in his list of 100, but also the likes of historian Ramchandra Guha, who adorned the panel of elites to prune the original 100/ to 50/ then to 10, forgot to include Shastriji in his list of 50. Sadly the entire list is not available in the public domain. Or else buffoonery of this joker Sardesai could have been comprehensively exposed. Here, the relevance of this list of 100/50/10, etc was only to stress the basic premise of Lal Bahadur Shastri having remained away from the hustle bustle of media and other mediums of publicity and of course the poor sense of history of Indian intellectual class including media and the great Indian public. Doesn’t matter the Great Indian Public, which includes the intellectual class, Lal Bahadur Shastri was a giant of a personality by any stretch of imagination despite his 5 ft 2 inches frame. Born to poor parents on 2nd October 1904 in Moghalsarai near Banaras, the present day Varanasi, Lal Bahadur remained self effacive all his life. His father was a school teacher. Although in retrospect, it can be safely concluded that he was born for bigger things, yet he remained mostly unseen, until circumstances brought him to the open as the executive head of the country. He had an innate desire to remain behind the curtain, stay out of spotlight and attention. CP. Srivastava, who worked closely with Shastriji, writes, “He was extremely courteous and extended the same courtesy, consideration and kindness to all he met, regardless of their station in life. He never demonstrated his feelings by gesture of the hand. He expressed by the way he looked. His look was one of soothing kindness and benevolence which were expressions for an unusually deep magnanimity of the soul. I saw with complete clarity Shastriji’s ethical stature, his warm humanity, his extreme decency, his capacity for understanding and forgiveness. To work with him was easy and difficult at the same time. It was easy because all one had to do was to be totally honest, straightforward and courteous. It was difficult because one had to dedicate oneself, heart and soul, to one’s duties, as Shastriji himself would be. But this did not come in any sense as a compulsion from him, not at all. It was one’s own inner compulsion, clearly fired by Shastriji’s selfless example. Shastriji had no passion for power, no greed for money, no lust for women. Despite God given ‘deficiency’ of a small physical frame and other ‘deficiencies’ caused by poverty in early years, Shastriji was a political meteor who, on the strength of his character, integrity and truthfulness, fulfilled in an uniquely modest and yet unshakably courageous way the great demands that history placed upon him.” His first exposure to work came as a member of The Servants of the People Society, run by redoubtable Lala Lajpat Rai. Part of the oath that he took, while being confirmed as a Life Member of the Society is as follows: “It shall always be my endeavor of lead a pure personal life. Service of the country will occupy first place in my thoughts and in serving the country I shall not be actuated by motives of personal advancement. I shall work for the advancement of the people of my country, without distinction of caste and creed. I shall be content with such allowances for myself and my family, as the society may fix or permit and shall take no part in any activity with the object of earning more money for myself or my family”. He was only 21 years of age then. He remained true to the oath all his life of following 40+years. He died on 11th January 1966, when he was 61 years, 3 months and 9 days. His private secretary CP Srivastava continues “His supreme loyalty was to Mother India regardless of the sacrifice involved, willingness to sacrifice, however large, in order to pursue what he had clearly perceived as the right course of action. This was when he decided to leave his school and jump headlong into freedom struggle. He was only 16 years old. He was attracted to the idea of detachment. As time passed renunciation became an integral part of his being. Asangraha that is non-acquisition and Aparigraha non-covetousness got imbedded into his whole being. He also practiced aswaad, tastelessness. According to Lal Bahadur Shastri, all these qualities are needed to be a Congress volunteer fighting for a free India. He was born poor, but poverty never embittered him. And he was always against exhibiting his poverty. He never demonstrated his poverty. He had 2 sets of kurtha always clean and ironed and presented himself everywhere as a neatly dressed person. He was equally concerned about other’s feelings and welfare. When he presented his views of any subject he was clear, concise and well thought out and was unemotional. Thus when he worked for the benefit of others his entire personality played out”. He was a true sevak, his biographer had remarked. No wonder, when he died under questionable circumstances, he died a fakir. He had no money in the bank, no own house, an old fiat car, with loan installment pending. How simple and honest a man can be, who died as the Prime Minister of world’s largest democracy! Having started only as a Parliamentary Secretary to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Govind Vallabh Pant, of the provincial government, in 1945, recognizing his abilities Shastri was made cabinet minister for Home & Transport very soon. As Home Minister, he tried to sensitise the police and was the first to ask police to use water cannons instead of lathies to control crowd. He was the first to introduce Prantiya Raksha Dal for civil defense to supplement police efforts. This became known in later years as Home Guards. As minister in charge of transport he was the first one to establish State Road Transport Corporations to provide transport service to the entire state after seeing rural Uttar Pradesh was poorly served. All state governments followed the lead given by Shastri and created SRTCs. This proved a boon for the public. He was also the first minister who introduced female workface in the SRTCs. Female conductors of state transport buses in UP was his seminal contribution to women’s empowerment even on those days prior to 1950. And come to think of it, those female members of the ‘elite panel’- Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Shabana Azmi, Shobha De, Shobha Mudgal- selected by Rajdeep Sardesai to anoint the best 10 Indians, did not blink how Lal Bahadur Shastri was far ahead of his time when it came to women’s empowerment through employment. Clearly Lal Bahadur Shastri was a great son of India, whether these media jokers recognise him or not. His qualities of head and heart endeared him to all those who came in contact with him, whether it was Lala Lajpat Rai and his Servants of the People Society in 1920s and 1930s or Purushottam Das Tandon or Govind Vallabh Pant or Jawaharlal Nehru. All of them found him an indispensable deputy and a very responsible committed colleague. He was an excellent organizer and a person of impeccable integrity. No wonder he was made the General Secretary of All India Congress Committee by Jawaharlal Nehru to oversee the first ever election to the parliament. Prior to the appointment as General Secretary of AICC, there was the election of the President of Indian National Congress. It was in 1950. Nehru, as PM supported Acharya J. B. Kripalani. Sardar Patel, the Deputy PM, supported Purushottam Das Tandon. It was a kind of clash of titans-Nehru & Patel. However, reliably it was understood that Nehru made it a prestige issue and declared, if Tandon wins, he will consider it a vote of no-confidence in his leadership and that he could resign from the position of Prime Minister. Tandon secured an absolute majority and was declared elected. A furious Nehru announced that he will not be part of Congress working committee, although he did not resign as Prime Minister. Here many things can be read between the lines on democracy in India. Was Nehru truly democratic? However most importantly Lal Bahadur Shastri being close to both Purushottam Das Tandon and Nehru, played an important role to diffuse the crisis. In the meanwhile Tandon decided to quit as Indian National Congress (INC) president and Nehru himself became the president of INC. After the demise of Sardar Patel on 15th December 1950, Nehru became the unrivalled power centre in the party and the government. Suddenly Nehru felt the need for an all purpose deputy and he appointed Lal Bahadur Shastri as the General Secretary of AICC. His most important responsibility as Gen Secretary of AICC was to organize the first general election under the new constitution slated to be held in 1952. It was a humongous task, but Shastri lived up to the expectation and according to his biographer D. R. Mankekar “for the landslide victory of the Congress party in those elections, the great part of the credit must go to Lal Bahadur”. Thus, he emerged as a national leader. During the elections, having met diverse kinds of people across the entire country, Lal Bahadur emerged as a rare gentleman, a genuinely humble politician due to his down to earth approach to all and sundry without an iota of weight being thrown around, despite being Prime Minister’s Man-Friday. Another dimension which came to the fore during and after this massive electoral exercise was his selflessness. He not only did not seek a ticket for himself or for any of his relations or friends. Hence he was not a member of the first Loksabha. Yet, recognizing his enormous contribution, Prime Minister Nehru made him India’s first Railway Minister. He is credited with the introduction of sleeping berths for the first time in third class compartment, which later was made as 2nd class. This greatly enhanced the comfort for long distance travelers who earlier had to travel sitting during the night. Railway Protection Force was his creation. Under his stewardship railway saw multi-dimensional improvement in both productivity and connectivity. Unfortunately taking moral responsibility, after 2nd major railway accident within months, he resigned from the Railway Ministry. He was the first minister to set an example for taking moral responsibility and quitting ministerial position, even when there was neither any demand from any quarter, nor he had anything to do with the accident, clearly indicating that he has no attraction for positions of power. It was aparigraha in practice. While announcing in the Loksabha, the acceptance of Shastri’s resignation, Prime Minister Nehru stated: “I should like to say that it has been not only in the government, but in the Congress, my good fortune and privilege to have him as a comrade and colleague, and no man can wish for a better colleague in any undertaking-a man of highest integrity, loyalty, devoted to ideals, a man of conscience and a man of hard work. We can expect no better. It is because he is such a man of conscience that he has deeply felt whenever there is any failing in work entrusted to his charge. I have the highest regard for him and I am quite sure that we shall be comrades and will work together in future”. This resignation, taking moral responsibility, had set a new precedent for political conduct, and increased the moral stature of Shastriji nationally. 1957 brought the 2nd General elections and Shastriji was again in the midst of high voltage action. This time, Nehru asked Shastriji to seek election to the Loksabha. Shastriji stood for election in Allahabad and got elected with huge margin and joined the cabinet. After a brief stint he became the Minister of Commerce & Industries in less than a year as Minister of Transport & Communications. During his ministership industrial revolution of a kind had started, especially in public sector. Heavy Engineering Corporation, Hindustan Machine Tools, The Nangal Fertilizer Factory, Heavy Electricals Ltd, a watch factory with Indo Japanese joint venture were some of the ventures that became stars in the evolving industrial horizon of India. Every decision, that promoted industrialization, whether in private sector or in public sector, Lal Bahadur kept the interest of ordinary Indians as primary consideration. Although the business community was unhappy with some of his decisions, he was respected all the same for his integrity and sincerity. His approach for agro-industrial integration and conversion of village industries into small scale industries, as a long-term solution to the unemployment in rural areas remains a blue-print for subsequent years of progress in industrialization. Despite the enormous power at his command as Minister of Commerce & Industry, to approve or reject, application to grant licence, Shastriji remained clearly above board with his impeccable integrity. Govind Vallabh Pant, India’s first Home Minister after the early demise of Sardar Patel, also passed away in April 1961. Lal Bahadur was the choice of Prime Minister to take the heavy ministry of Home Affairs. His whole personality as eyes and ears of common man, suited very well to defuse emerging challenges in a country as complex as India, with some 23 officially recognized languages and half a dozen faiths. With his characteristic disarming personality, he resolved the Assamese-Bengali language crisis in Assam. He weathered southern India’s temper of anti-Hindi protest; Punjabi Suba demand of Akali Dal (Master Tara Singh faction) was also resolved. However what distressed him most was the lack of discipline among government staff, patronizing attitude of some of politicians and senior bureaucrats looking for bigger crumbs of power. He was always ready to converse to find a solution and never forced his personal view nor did he try to show the power as a minister. He always felt there should be a forum for discussion between officers and staff so that irritants, if any, can be aired in the forum and some amicable solution found out without bitterness. So also, as a senior cabinet member, he felt no officer should work under fear or duress and that these officers should be encouraged to express their views freely subject to the decision already taken. He was against oral orders or instructions which, more often than not, lead to miscarriage of justice and creation of influence peddlers. He also advocated code of conduct for ministers. He expressly disapproved any group politics by officers. Administrative reforms were of utmost importance in his mind, as Indian politics and society was evolving in post independent India’s work culture. Unfortunately he resigned from the ministership under Kamaraj plan. But Shastriji soon returned to the cabinet as Minister Without Portfolio. Truly speaking, in the entire cabinet, he emerged as a Multiple Task Master. He became a successful trouble shooter for Congress and Prime Minister Nehru. If earlier it was Language Issue in Assam and South, Kashmir erupted due to the loss of a holy relic. The disappearance of the treasured hair of Prophet Mohammad had caused huge problem and the subsequent location of the relic had introduced doubts in the minds of Kashmiri Muslim clergy. But Shastriji, despite advice against yielding to the local pressure met leaders and clergy in Kashmir and in his own unobtrusive way managed to defuse the crisis. Even release of Shaikh Abidullah was influenced by Shastriji. Thus he became an acceptable face to diverse stake holders in the Idea of India. No wonder, when Nehru left the scene on 27th May 1964, Shastriji became the natural consensus candidate to takeover, since in the words of Nehru, “Shastriji was Gandhijis own model, simple, modest and gentle with nothing authoritarian about him and therefore well suited to the task of reconciling different groups to our middle way”. On 9th June 1964, Shastriji was elected Congress Party leader and as Prime Minister of India. Addressing the nation on 11th June, 1964 Shastriji stated “There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the cross-road of history and must choose which way to go. But for us, there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or left. Our way is straight and clear, the building up of a socialist democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all, and the maintenance of world peace and friendship with all nations”. Continuing with most of the ministers of Nehru cabinet, he also appointed Indira Gandhi as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Policies of socialistic pattern of society of Nehru were also continued. Both White Revolution & Green Revolution were Shastriji’s initiatives, clearly indicating the clarity of thought in socio-economic sphere. White Revolution led to Amul and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Coming to chronic food shortage in the country, he himself skipped a meal a day to save food and asked the countrymen to save at least one meal a week. The entire country was inspired to do likewise. Even eateries and restaurants downed their shutter on Monday evening. It came to be known as ‘Shastri Vrat’. In 1964, National Agricultural Products Board Act was passed and (FCI) Food Corporation of India was established. Soon thereafter Green Revolution was ushered with new high yielding varieties of crops being tried in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They became the future granaries of India. War of 1965 with Pakistan boosted our self respect and the whole country admired the government led by Lal Bahadur Shastri for deftly handling the Pakistani perfidy. He became a hero of the folk lore. India was indeed lucky to have Shastriji at the helm of country’s affairs, acknowledged for his honesty, integrity, commitment and dedication for the national cause. His transparent selflessness and simplicity made him a darling of the masses. Sadly for India, his reign didn’t last. 11th January 1966 he breathed his last and the country was devastated. He was a model politician, a model human being, a gentle soul, every Indian can justifiably be proud to remember. His memory can be an inspiring story for all those who aspire for public life to serve the country and its people. His journey from a mere sevak to his people to the position of Pradhan Sevak (as coined by Narendra Modi) of his countrymen is an open book of honesty and simplicity. If Shakespeare was alive in 1966, in all probability, he would have said, that “This was the noblest Indian of them all. His life was so gentle and the elements, So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world This was a Man” Indeed Lal Bahadur Shastri is the greatest Indian, since Mahatma Gandhi, to have lived in flesh and blood in post independent India to have left his footprints on the Indian socio-political space as a model of clean politics and selfless service. He life story should be there in both school books and college books. To make his memory enduring Shastriji too should be remembered like that of Mahatma Gandhi as Gandhi Shastri Jayanti Divas, since both were born on 2nd October. Hope this humble desire find resonance in corridors of power. J. SHRIYAN