The first general elections were held in India in 1952. India had adopted British form of Parliamentary system.
Lal Bahadur Shastri was appointed one of the General Secretaries of the Congress to prepare the party for the elections. Shastri was dealing with the selection of the candidates, publicity and the electioneering. He himself did not contest the election and devoted his entire energies into bringing his party back to the power. The Congress party won the elections by a huge majority.
Jawahar Lal Nehru was immensely impressed with the performance of Lal Bahadur Shastri whom he knew well from the Allahabad days. And he was determined to give some responsibility to him in the central cabinet to take advantage of his capabilities.
He was persuaded to enter the Parliament through Rajya Sabha. His election posed no problems. Jawahar Lal Nehru inducted him into his cabinet as Railways and Transport Minister in 1952.
Railways was and is the most vital public and goods transport system in the life of the nation. Due to partition railway network and service system had been badly affected. All the train services were rescheduled and regulated.
When Shastri took charge of the Railways there were four classes in passenger trains : First, Second, Intermediate and the Third class. The first class offered royal luxuries. Shastri got this class abolished. Now there were only 1st, 2nd and 3rd classes. The amenities in the third class were vastly improve. The third class A.C. Chair was introduced besides 2-Tier and 3-Tier sleepers in third class compartments. He did a great service to the poor class passengers. He identified himself so closer to the third class passengers that once he got a cooler facility removed from his compartment to travel like a common man from Delhi to Bombay.
He had a great sense of responsibility. When he was Railway Minister, a train accident took place near Ariyalur in Tamilnadu in 1956. 144 passengers lost their lives. Earlier in an another train accident 112 person had died at Mahboob Nagar after which he had taken moral responsibility for the mishap and tendered his resignation. But Jawahar Lal Nehru had rejected it. But after Ariyalur accident he insisted, “Let me go. I must do penance for this.” And he resigned.
He continued to devote his full time to party work. It greatly benefitted the party. It handsomely won the 1957 general elections. Shastri himself won from Allahabad.
Nehru would not allow him anymore penance hiatus. He made Lal Bahadur Shastri Minister of Transport and Communications.
Later, he took charge of Trade and Commerce Ministry. During his tenure he worked hard to take the country forward. Collaborations with USSR and Czechoslovakia resulted in setting up of heavy machinery production units. Raw film manufacturing unit was set up with the help of France at Ranchi.
Several vital manufacturing and production units also became functional. The list is long. For these efforts he studied technical books burning midnight oil. The doctors advised him not to work himself so hard.
He just smiled and ignored the advice.
As a result he suffered heart attack in 1959.
Meanwhile Govind Bhallabh Pant had also been included in the Central Cabinet as the Home Minister. He was No.2 in cabinet hierarchy. In the year 1960 Pant fell ill. He was an old man now.
His recovery was a doubtful matter.
Nehru asked Shastri to hold additional charge of the Home Ministry till Pant was not fit to resume his duty. Lal Bahadur Shastri ran the ministry from his Trade and Commerce office.
Now he had to move to a larger bungalow befitting a minister holding charge of the home ministry. His elder son Hari had also started earning. The standard of the life of Shastri family went up by a notch. Now tea was served in proper tray with tea pot covered with tea-cozy with a plate or two of snacks.
Govind Bhallabh Pant passed away in April, 1961. Lal Bahadur Shastri was formally asked to take over the Home Ministry.
Shastri had to clear a huge back log. He believed in dealing with the task whereas Pant’s motto was ‘Don’t deal with a problem. The problem will solve itself in due course.’
During his tenure as Home Minister Akali leader Tara Singh tried to foment trouble by creating communal divide between Hindus and Sikhs. He charged that Sikhs were being discriminated by the administration and were treated as second class citizens.
He even went on hunger strike.
Shastri set up a committee to probe the charges and find the truth. The Committee arrived at the conclusion that the charges and claims were baseless. Tara Singh called for a state wide strike. The central and the state governments ignored the threat. Eventually the strike fizzled out.
In the North-East he brought amity between Assamese and Bengalis. South Indians were assured that Hindi would not be forced on them.
In 1962, China committed aggression against India by invading its northern borders. Even after cease-fire China did not withdraw from the occupied areas. The Chinese aggression dented the popularity of Jawahar Lal Nehru. There were dissenting voices within the party.
Indiscipline was becoming rampant.
To strengthen the party Kamraj Plan was applied in 1963. Several Congressmen were removed from high positions and asked to serve the party. Shastri also resigned for the sake of the party.
Then, Nehru suffered heart attack. He was not the same person after Chinese attack. He had grown very infirm. He requested Shastri to join the cabinet to help him tide over the difficult period. Lal Bahadur Shastri became Minister without Portfolio on January 22, 1964.
Then, a problem arose in Kashmir. One morning the holy hair of Prophet Mohammad was found missing from Hazrat Bal mosque. It provoked violence. C.B.I. probed the matter and recovered the hair within ten days.
But the people doubted its genuineness.
To settle the matter Lal Bahadur Shastri was sent to Kashmir. He deftly got the hair displayed in an exhibition. A committee of the Muslim priests publicly certified its authenticity and the matter was settled. It was a feather in the cap of Shastri.
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