Formerly the External Affairs Minister in Pt. Nehru’s govt, Shastri Ji took over as the Prime Minister of India after the sudden demise of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. He was a strong and visionary leader who died serving the nation. He was the first person who be awarded the prestigious Bharat Ratna award posthumously in 1966.
Shastri Ji is the only Indian Prime Minister who passed away on foreign soil. The mystery behind his demise remains unsolved and the fact that even to date, no government records regarding this incident have been made public, makes the situation even more concerning.
What was happening in Tashkent?
Shastri Ji passed away in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Formerly a part of USSR) in 1966. Alexei Kosygin, the then premier of the USSR invited Lal Bahadur Shastri and his Pakistani counterpart, Ayub Khan to sign the Tashkent Declaration and formally end the Indo-Pak war of 1965. Although a ceasefire was declared between the two countries in September 1965 there were violations from both sides. As a result, the USSR mediated a deal between India and Pakistan.
Both the leaders reached Tashkent and many meetings and discussions were held but even in the last few days, it was very difficult to predict if the declaration would be signed or not. Finally, on 10th January 1966, the Tashkent Declaration was signed between the two leaders and there was a sense of accomplishment all around. However, the night of 10th January 1966 changed everything.
After the Declaration
Following the successful signing of the declaration, a party was organised by the USSR which was attended by many dignitaries including both Shastri Ji and Ayub Khan. After the party, when Shastri Ji returned to the Villa in which he and his team were staying, he did not complain about any uneasiness or pain. He even asked his cook to make some light food for him. Everything was normal when his new cook Jan Mohommad offered him a glass of milk at around 2:00 hours.
It was after consuming the milk that Shastri Ji passed away. Preliminary investigations said that he died because of a heart attack and everyone believed it.
Situation in India
However, when his body came back to India, Shastri Ji’s family said that he had some bluish spots on his body and that his clothes were stained with blood. Therefore, they requested the government for a post-mortem and to investigate the matter.
Despite all these requests, no formal committee was formed to investigate the death of India’s former Prime Minister until 1977. Under the Prime Ministership of Sh. Moraji Desai, the Raj Narain committee was formed to investigate the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The committee presented its report but it was never made public.
Conclusion
There are many conspiracy theories behind the death of one of the most loved Prime Ministers of India. Some say he was poisoned, some say he was heckled to death by some unknown assailants while some say that he died a natural death. However, even after 50 years of his demise, the exact reason for his death is still unknown. No post-mortem was done and neither were any documents related to this incident made public.
In 2011, an RTI was filed with the Supreme Court of India to make the Raj Narain committee’s report public but the government denied stating national interests. Was Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji assassinated or did he die a natural death? This question still haunts many people and the mystery remains unsolved.
