Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri (2 October 1904 to 11 January 1966) was India's second Prime Minister, in office from 9 June 1964 until his death at Tashkent. His short term ran across two Punjab events: the 1965 war with Pakistan, much of it fought along Punjab's border, and the last stage of the Punjabi Suba demand.

Career. Born at Mughalsarai, he was Minister of Railways from 13 May 1952 to 7 December 1956 and Home Minister from 4 April 1961 to 29 August 1963. Master Tara Singh's fast of 1961, which the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says lasted 48 days, fell in his Home Ministry years. He became Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru died on 27 May 1964. On 19 October 1965 he gave the slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan".

1965: the fast and the war. On 16 August 1965 Sant Fateh Singh announced from the Akal Takht that he would fast from 10 September and, if the Government of India did not yield, immolate himself on 25 September. India crossed the international border on the western front on 6 September, the day Home Minister Gulzarilal Nanda told the Lok Sabha the Punjabi-speaking state "could be examined afresh with an open mind". After an appeal from leaders in Delhi, Sant Fateh Singh postponed the fast on 9 September and urged Sikhs to resist the attack. On 23 September, as the ceasefire took hold, Nanda announced a Cabinet committee of Indira Gandhi, Y. B. Chavan and Mahavir Tyagi and a Parliamentary committee presided over by the Speaker, Hukam Singh. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says Nanda complained to Shastri that the Speaker was working for a Punjabi-speaking state, and another entry says Shastri ordered the parliamentary committee.

Tashkent. Shastri and Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration on 10 January 1966, and he died the next day. The reported cause is a heart attack, which relatives and supporters dispute; the Prime Minister's Office has said its one file on the death cannot be declassified.

After him. Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister on 24 January 1966. The Parliamentary committee reported unanimously for a Punjabi Suba: the report was handed in on 15 March and made public on 18 March 1966. The Congress Working Committee had adopted a motion for a Punjabi-speaking state on 9 March, Indira Gandhi conceded the demand on 23 April, and the state came into being on 1 November 1966.

Key moments

• 1961: Home Minister during Master Tara Singh's 48-day fast.
• 9 June 1964: becomes Prime Minister.
• 16 August 1965: Sant Fateh Singh announces his fast and threat of self-immolation.
• 6 to 23 September 1965: the war on the Punjab front, and the Punjabi Suba committees announced.
• 11 January 1966: dies at Tashkent.

What he is remembered for. Shastri is remembered as the Prime Minister of the 1965 war and the "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" slogan. In the Panth's record, the process that ended in the Punjabi Suba began under him, but he died before it reported.