Bird that soared

Lal Bahadur Shastri might have irreversibly established secularism

- ASHIS RAY

In sharp contrast to his political guru Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri was very much of an indigenous upbringing. Shastris are normally Brahmins. But Lal Bahadur was a Kayastha who earned the title Shastri—a person with a higher learning—after securing first-class marks in his graduation at the temple city of Varanasi. This became his surname. Influenced by Gandhi and Nehru in his formative years, he came to assimilate Gandhian secularism and Nehruvian socialism.

After the country’s freedom, he was appointed minister of railways. He famously resigned in 1956, taking moral responsibility for a train accident. Frequent previous such incidents had been worrying both the government and the public. In August of that year 112 people were killed in an accident. Shastri put in his papers; Nehru, though, coaxed him to continue. Then in November, another accident killed 144 passengers. On this occasion, there was no withdrawing his notice.

Announcing Shastri’s departure from the government in Parliament, 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 comrade and better colleague in any undertaking—a man of the highest integrity, loyalty, devoted to ideals, a man of conscience and a man of hard work.”

He returned to government after the 1957 general election and was eventually assigned the powerful portfolio of home affairs.