Shastri ended humiliation India suffered since Independence, says T.N. Governor

Governor Ravi, who unveiled a statue of India’s second PM Lal Bahadur Shastri in Chennai on Wednesday, said India had suffered in its defence sector and in food security for nearly 17 years after Independence; he said Shastri had brought in a paradigm shift but his contributions had not been adequately appreciated

Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi on Wednesday said that India suffered humiliation, and was demoralised on the defence and food security fronts in the first 17 years of Independence, referring to the period when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister.

Unveiling the statue of India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at Shastri Bhavan in Chennai, he said that it was Shastri who brought in a paradigm shift and addressed this humiliation by orienting the country towards self-reliance.

For more than one-and-half decades after independence, he said that the country followed an idealistic and not realistic path. In the name of peace, he alleged that India paid scant attention to its defence forces and kept losing territories in Jammu and Kashmir and Aksai Chin to its enemies. “The country faced enormous humiliation in 1962 [Sino-Indian War]. Our policy of non-alignment and peace brought us national humiliation. The whole country was demoralised,” he said.

Referring to Shastri’s famous slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, he said ‘Jai Jawan’ was not just a slogan, but marked a paradigm shift in the way the nation looked at its defence forces and the way the defence forces looked at themselves. “For the first time after nearly 17 years of independence, we gave dignity to our defence forces,” he said. Pointing out that the country tasted its first victory in the Indo-Pak war in 1965, he said that India has not suffered any defeat or humiliation on the national security front since.

Similarly, he said that food became a tool for international diplomacy and coercion as India was relying on other countries to feed its poor. He added that it was Shastri, who laid the foundation for India’s green revolution and consequent self-reliance in food. Though Shastri’s term as prime minister was cut-short by “destiny,” the country should be grateful to him laying the foundation for a great India, the Governor said.

Arguing that the contributions of Shastri, however, had not been adequately appreciated and acknowledged, Mr. Ravi said the country cannot have national pride unless it respected the leaders who made it great. “The history of post-British nation needs to be rewritten and it will be rewritten,” he said.

Anil Kumar Shastri, chairman, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Memorial Trust; Sunil Shastri, president, Lal Bahadur Shastri Sewa Niketan; Rajesh Kumar Kaushal, Special Director General, Project Region Chennai, Central Public Works Department (CPWD); Rajesh Khare, Chief Engineer, CPWD, Chennai, and family members of Shastri attended the function.