What a providential coincidence it is that Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri - two of the most loved leaders of this country - share their birth date. Unfortunately, due to this coincidence, unwittingly, the saga of the extraordinary life, works and contributions of Lal Bahadur Shastri are often dwarfed in its public reportage.
2nd October - marked as Gandhi Jayanti - keeps reminding us of the Mahatma, the man about whom the great Albert Einstein said ‘Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth’. While remembering the Mahatma on his birth anniversary - born on 02.10.1869 - we must also remember with equal reverence another legend - Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was also born on this day (2.10.1904). The physical stature of Shastri ji may have been very small but his standing is as tall as that of the Mahatma when it comes to his contributions to our country. Lal Bahadur Shatri and his ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ clarion call, that he made to the nation in the face of the Indo-Pak 1965 war, which came on the back of the defeat that we faced against the Chinese in the 1962 war and at the time when India was also facing shortage of food grains, served as a major boost to the nation, which reverentially supported our Jawans and Kisans in equal measures the tradition of which has perpetuated even today. Shastri’s contribution must therefore be remembered with equal reverence.
While so much has been written on the Mahatma and his nonviolent freedom movement yet very little is known about his interest in science and technology, particularly astronomy - star gazing. During the culmination of the two year celebrations of the sesquicentennial birth anniversary of the Mahatma, the Nehru Science Centre had organised two online lectures, the first one by Dr Rathnashri on ‘Bapu and Khagol Shastra’ and the second one ‘Mahatma Gandhi and Science and Technology’ by Sudheendra Kulkarni. Here is a link to the blog which I had written, two years ago, which describes in greater details the connect that Gandhi had with science, technology and astronomy, based on the above two lectures which Nehru Science Centre had organised. Those interested may please read my long blog leisurely.
https://khened.blogspot.com/2020/10/commemoration-and-culmination-of-150th.html
Gandhi had fallen briefly in love with star gazing while he was incarcerated in the Yerwada Jail. Dr Rathnashri, Director Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi - who most unfortunately succumbed to COVID last year - has thrown new light into Bapu's interest in star gazing, which she converted into a Planetarium show titling it ‘Bapu and Khagol Shastra’. This planetarium show featured during the sesquicentennial birth anniversary of the Mahatma at the Nehru Planetarium. She also conducted several workshops across the country communicating the hitherto unknown facets of Gandhiji's interest in science, particularly his interest in star gazing.
The name of Shastri and his impeccable integrity and beyond imagination simplicity are legendary and synonymous. The diminutive Shastri ji had a Himalayan determination and trust in his fellow Indians, which was evidenced when the Pakistani General tried a misadventure in the 1965 Indo Pak war only to face a bloody nose and a defeat at the hands of the great Indian army. His eponymous 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan' slogan touched a chord with the people and energised both our Jawans and Kisans to raise up to the occassion - the former in defeating the enemy, Pakistan, and the later in ushering the green revolution - with help of agriculture scientists, Normon Borlaug, Swaminathan and many other leaders - and the rest is history. Infact there have been many new slogans coined, which have mostly remained as slogans while the Jai Jawan Jai Kisan slogan was translated into reality in a mission mode, particularly the agricultural aspect of it. The slogan of Shastri is what drove the the mission made approach to ushering of green revolution about which lot has been written. It is time that similar mission mode approach be followed and focused efforts and attention be made to emulate the achievements of the slogan of Shastri ji it while making the new slogan - Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhan translate in to its success and not just remain a slogan for sloganeering.
Some of the often heard anecdotes of Shastri include his resignation as the Railway Minister while owning up responsibility for a Rail accident. Shastri ji was the Railway Minister in Pandit Nehru’s cabinet. There was a major railway accident in Mahabubnagar - formerly in the state of Andhra Pradesh and now in Telangana state - which occurred in August 1956. The accident resulted in the loss of 112 precious lives who were killed in this accident. Shastri ji owned up the moral responsibility for this accident and sent out a his resignation letter to the PM, Nehru, who did not accept his resignation and instead persuaded Shastri to withdraw his resignation. Unfortunately, as misfortune would have it for Shastri, a few months later - in November 1956 - there was another major railway accident in Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, which resulted in 144 deaths. Shastri once again promptly submitted his resignation to the PM and pleaded for its early acceptance. Such was his impeccable integrity. Unfortunately, his untimely death just after signing of the Tashkent agreement, continues to be one of those unsolved mystery where the last word has not yet been written conclusively.
May both - Bapu and Shastri - continue to live in the hearts and minds of the people.
Images - courtesy Wiki commons and Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai
Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan.
Sathya Meva Jayathe.🙏🙏
