Lala Bahadur Shastri: Gave a befitting reply to the US President, used to account for pie

Along with Mahatma Gandhi, the whole country is celebrating the birth anniversary of the second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. But very few people would know that Lal Bahadur Shastri was such a Prime Minister of independent India, who during his two-year tenure did such a work, remembering that the chest of the countrymen still widens with pride. Today we are going to discuss some such incidents related to Lal Bahadur Shastri, which made Shastri ji's height of five feet 2 inches tall and firm as Himalaya.

Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on October 2, 1904. He served as the second Prime Minister of independent India from 1964 to 1966. But even after so many years, he is still remembered for his indomitable courage and lofty decisions. The special thing is that he also served as the Minister of Home Affairs under the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. But the slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” given by him during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 is very popular even today. Along with this, Shastri ji was also known for his planning skills. He promoted initiatives like 'White Revolution' and 'Green Revolution' in India, which gave a boost to food production in the country. Shastri's thoughts and philosophy were influenced by personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Annie Besant and Mahatma Gandhi.

President Lyndon Johnson threatened

If we talk about those decisions of Shastri ji, which had filled all sections of people including youth, women and old people with patriotism, then there was an appeal to the countrymen not to eat food once in a week. Actually, during the 1965 war, US President Lyndon Johnson had threatened Lal Bahadur Shastri that if you do not stop the fight against Pakistan, we will stop sending you wheat under PL 480. The special thing is that at that time India was not self-sufficient in the production of wheat. This threat of Lyndon Johnson shook Shastri to the core. He told the countrymen that now we will not have one meal in a week. In such a situation, we will not need to take wheat from America.

Hunger applied his formula to himself first

But the important thing is that Shastri ji had first applied his formula, which was once hungry, on himself. After this, he appealed to the countrymen not to eat one meal in a week. It is said that he told his wife Lalita Shastri that we will not eat one time meal today, can you do this? Because tomorrow I am going to appeal to the countrymen not to eat one meal at a time. But when he saw himself being hungry for one time with his family, he appealed to the countrymen to do the same.

The lights were off in the house

There is another incident related to him regarding a similar electricity bill. In fact, in 1963, Shastri had to resign from the cabinet under the Kamaraj scheme. In such a situation, to reduce the burden of electricity bill, he reduced the use of power in his house. He used to switch off the lights everywhere in the house except the drawing room. Then a journalist asked him the reason for doing this, he had said that from now on I will have to pay the electricity bill of this house from my pocket. That's why I have switched off the lights everywhere except the drawing room.

Write articles for newspapers

In another incident, Shastri ji was finding it difficult to bear the expenses of his house while being an MP. Then the salary was only 500 rupees. Then he started writing articles in Hindustan Times, Amritbazar Patrika and Times of India. He used to get 500 rupees for an article. In this way, he started earning an extra 2000 rupees. By doing this he took care of his house.