A remarkable contribution

I do not know why the centenary celebrations of Lal Bahadur Shastri's birthday were on a low key. They came to an end on October 2, his birthday. The central government allocated Rs 100 crore for the celebrations but most of the amount remained unspent. No serious programme, except two speeches at Hyderabad and Bangalore and a few meetings were undertaken. There was a proposal to have a documentary on his life. Books for children were also planned. Nothing seems to have taken off. This is still better from the time when his photograph like that of K Kamaraj would not be displayed in the main pandal of the Congress session. The mistake was rectified when pointed out. Still he did not get much prominence because he did not get into the triumvirate - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi - the dynastic obsession.

However, Shastri's contribution to the nation has been outstanding, although his tenure was cut short due to heart failure. The reason why he shied away from birthday celebrations was the presumption that he would look like a person trying to sheer limelight which rightly belonged to Mahatma Gandhi whose birthday (October 2) was on everybody's lips. "I am nobody," he told me. "I do not want to claim even an iota of glory which only Gandhi ji epitomised."

I was his press secretary when he became the home minister after Govind Vallabh Pant. I saw Shastri from close quarters and I can say without hesitation that his simplicity, modesty and transparency were the traits which only a few post-independent leaders possessed. He hardly made two ends meet with the salary he got either as an MP or as a minister. He lost a daughter at an early age because he could not afford medical expenses.