Source: Google photo of Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri , the 2nd Prime Minister of India
Politicians tend to be arrogant and often treat people like dirt because they want to show that they are important, so everyone must kowtow to them. In a democracy, they are to serve the people who elected them, but after the election such politicians get drunk with power and expect everyone to serve them no matter how corrupt they are. A simple person who is a patriot, honest and dedicates his life to serve the nation and ready to die for it if need be is called great. Such a person shows his greatness through his simplicity and strength of character.
Today I will tell you a story that will show you what the greatness in a person shows in his simplicity even if he is the Prime Minister of a great nation called Bharat or India as the world knows it.
Once there was an incident in my hometown where it was announced that a VIP was coming to town, so the entire platform of the Railway station was scrubbed clean, and the trains were diverted to other platforms because the VIP was arriving by train on platform number one. The station master and his staff were in their best uniform and were anxiously waiting for the special train to arrive from Delhi.
The welcoming committee was waiting with flower garlands and there was high security everywhere so the public who were also curious were kept out by the security people keeping them wondering who could this VIP be.
The policemen spotted an old woman in a simple sari who stood in one corner waiting for someone, so they asked the old woman to leave because a great man was coming. She said in a meek voice that she heard that her Lal is coming today, so she had come to receive him. The Station Master was annoyed and asked who is your Lal, and where is he coming from? She again answered meekly that she heard that her Lal is coming from Delhi. She did not know what her son did for a living. It did not convince the security people, so they tried to gently move her to the waiting room, but she stood her ground and insisted on receiving her beloved son herself.
In the meantime, a shiny train slowly entered and stopped in front of the welcome committee and a great man stepped off the special train that had brought him from Delhi to my hometown train station.
When he saw the old woman, he briskly walked to her and bent down to touch her feet, which is a sign of respect in the Hindu culture. The old woman was in tears, but they were her tears of joy because she had not seen her son since a long time.
People were in shock. This simple old woman in a plain sari was the mother of the Minister of Railways in India ? He was no other than Shri Lal Bahadur Shashtri who hugged his mother and apologized to her that his heavy work load left him with little time to come to see his mother.
The reporters realized who the old lady was and took many photos that appeared in the news papers the next day, so the story went viral.
Mr. Lal Bahadur Shashtri came from a poor family that lived very simply, so he grew up in poverty, but his mother tried her best to raise him and sent him to school in spite of her poverty. Later he joined the independence movement of Gandhi and became his loyal follower in the Congress Party. After Independence, he was given the portfolio of the Railway Ministry that was and still is the largest ministry that has a huge budget, so to become the Indian Railways Minister was a very big and important job.
Lal Bahadur Shashtri was small who dressed very simply in his khadi Kurta and Dhoti and a plain jacket just like any common man on the street, but today I will tell you how extraordinarily uncommon he was. Khadi is homespun cotton cloth. Dhoti is also cotton cloth of several yards in length men wear to wrap around the legs.
He was chosen to become the Prime Minister of India after the death of Nehru that bought him the enmity of Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi who aspired to be the Prime Minister, but the Congress Party chose Shashtri because they believed in his character, his honesty and integrity who could lead India toward a great future. This he did in a splendid manner and stood up to bullies of the Western world that always tried to treat India as a poor and undeveloped country that they could easily subjugate.
They saw the meek new Prime Minister of small height who did not look impressive, so they underestimated Mr. Shashtri. It was their biggest mistake. They would know later that under his simple Kurta and Dhoti he was a man of steel who never hesitated in taking the toughest decisions. He was a true patriot who loved India and always put country first.
When Richard Nixon tried to intimidate Mr. Shashtri by suggesting that the food aid to India could be in jeopardy because India was not giving in to their demands in return, Mr. Shashtri answered that India did not need the US food aid which was of poor quality and unfit for human consumption. India had always managed its sporadic food shortages and will manage it again without any outside help. Nixon, like many others, had seriously underestimated this diminutive small man and was shocked at his strong personality.
Shashtri returned to India and asked the whole nation to switch to other food like corn, millets and rice while the country tried to overcome the wheat shortage that was temporary. The Indians took up the challenge and supported their beloved Prime Minister. India became self-sufficient in all types of food because the government gave the farmers a lot of help in subsidies in seed, fertilizer and irrigation. Mr. Shashtri was the person behind this massive transformation in agriculture.
I was in college in 1963 when Mr. Shashtri came to our campus one day and sat with all the students, answering their questions on many subjects with a sweet smile. We were very impressed by his simplicity and down to earth manners. He was so sweet and easy to approach. I saw him from a distance of less than 6 feet and knew instinctively how great a Prime Minister he really was.
Politician like Nehru also visited our college one day and I saw him when his car came to a stop in front of us. He was arrogant and very opposite in nature of Mr. Shashtri. He did not sit with us like Shashtri and I doubt if the students were eager to talk to him knowing his arrogance and scandalous nature.
The war with Pakistan started in 1965 when the Indian army reached Lahore in Pakistan. India won the war like all the other wars with Pakistan, but the whole nation stood in awe of the Prime Minister Shashtri and his strong leadership during the crisis.
Mr. Shashtri and his Pakistani counterpart met in Tashkent to sort out their differences and signed a Peace Treaty that Russian PM Kosygin mediated. The peace accord was signed, and the Indian army pulled back from Lahore to give away for free the land they had won with their blood, sweat and sacrifices.
But it did not turn out well for Mr. Shashtri because someone poisoned his milk and the doctors said that he had a heart attack. There was no autopsy which was required in such cases, but his body was flown to India and cremated hastily in Delhi, suggesting foul play. The assassin was never found.
Thus ended the life of a great man who had won everyone's heart. I still remember him sitting only 6 feet from me and smiling so sweetly at us. He was simple but great. I miss him. The whole nation misses him.
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