Lal Bahadur Shastri was one of the foremost leaders of the Liberation Struggle on India from the British Colonial Rule. After India gained independence in 1947, Lal Bahadur Shastri was elected as the Second Prime Minister of Independent India, after Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the first Prime Minister of Independent India from 1947 to 1964.
Lal Bahadur Shastri was the Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966. During India’s Liberation Struggle Lal Bahadur Shastri was one of the prominent leaders that led the masses. During these times of Social Revolution and Political Change, Shastri was follower first of Gandhiji and later also of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Childhood and education: Lal Bahadur Shastri was born in 1904, in pre-Independence India, in the town of Varanasi. He was born in the Srivastava family, but during the course of his life, he graduated from the Kashi Vidyapeeth in the subjects of Philosophy and Ethics. As a graduate he was conferred upon the title of Shastri, and this title stuck with him throughout his life as a part of his name. Earlier as a school student, Lal Bahadur, was motivated by the speeches of Gandhiji and the inspired by the work of the Indian National Congress movement. He quit his school education to join the Liberation movement. Subsequently his desire for education was fulfilled when the Nationalist University called Kashi Vidyapeeth was established.
Social and Political leader: Throughout the Liberation Struggle of India, he grew through the ranks as a dedicated, responsible and Senior leader of Indian National Congress Party, a political party under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. This party was at the forefront of the Indian Liberation Struggle from the Colonial British Rule. And as a leader of this party Shastri participated and led various Social and Political movements. He also faced imprisonment for nine years.
Post-Independence India: After Independence, Shastri joined the cabinet of ministers under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. From 1951-56 he was the Minister for Railways, from 1961-63 the Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Home Affairs in 1963, and the Prime Minister from 1964-66. He died in Tashkent [now Uzbekistan] in 1966. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna [posthumous] in 1966.
The contribution of Lal Bahadur Shastri in the Indian history will always be valued.