It was 11 June 1964 when Lal Bahadur Shastri made his first broadcast to the nation, two days after being sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 9 June 1964. Paying his tribute to his predecessor, Jawaharlal Nehru, he said, “The towering personality who was in our midst till but a few days ago is no longer with us to lead and guide us. The last of his mortal remains have gone to join the soil and water of India he loved. Even though Jawaharlalji has passed out of our sight, his work and inspiration live on.

And we, his contemporaries and colleagues, to whom was given the privilege of being his countrymen, must now brace ourselves to the new tasks ahead and face the situation the very prospect of which we once used to dread ~ the situation of an India without Jawaharlal.” Shastri’s speech is filled with emotion, conscious as he is of the historic role he needs to play and responsibilities to discharge: “There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the crossroads of history and must choose which way to go. But for us there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or left. Our way is straight and clear ~ the building up of a socialist democracy at home with freedom and prosperity for all and the maintenance of world peace and friendship with all other nations. To that straight road and to these shining ideals we re-dedicate ourselves today.” Having been an integral part of the freedom struggle, Shastri knew the importance of building up the unity and solidarity of our people. “Our country has often stood like a solid rock in the face of common danger and there is a deep underlying unity which runs like a golden thread through all our seeming diversity. But we cannot take national unity and solidarity for granted or afford to be complacent, for there have been occasions when unfortunate and disturbing divisions, some of them accompanied by violence, have appeared in our society.”

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Working closely with Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and being a true Congressman, Shastri emphasized on political democracy and the way it has functioned in our country. He termed it a great achievement. “Here again we owe an immeasurable debt to Jawaharlalji for his deep attachment to democracy as a form of government and as a way of life. There is something in our older cultural heritage too. I have particularly in view that enduring strand in Indian life which can best be described as respect for human personality and the spirit of tolerance. I have no doubt in my mind that it is only by methods of persuasion and mutual accommodation and by a constant search for areas of agreement as the basis for action that democracy can work. It is in this spirit that I shall devote myself to the duties and responsibilities of the office I have been called upon to fill,” he said, with deepseated conviction in his voice.

The dire poverty of his countrymen was causing him distress. “I remember particularly the claims of the most backward sections like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who have suffered neglect and have had to endure disabilities for many centuries. It would be my proud privilege to work for the establishment of a more just social order,” he said. Like Pt Nehru, Shastri was firm in his belief that economic development was first and foremost priority for his government. A man of peace, growing up with principles of Swaraj and Ahimsa, the new Prime Minister said, “India and Pakistan are two great countries linked together by common history and tradition. It is their natural destiny to be friends with each other. Goodwill and friendship and mutual cooperation between these countries will not only be of immense benefit to them but will make a great contribution to peace and prosperity in Asia. For too long have India and Pakistan been at odds with each other. The unfortunate relations between the two countries have somehow had their repercussions on the relations between communities in the two countries, giving rise to tragic human problems. We must reverse the tide… President Ayub Khan’s recent broadcast showed both wisdom and understanding and it has come just at the appropriate time.

However, a great deal of patience will still be necessary.” In June 1964, with the 1962 Chinese invasion still rankling India, Shastri said, “It had always been our desire to establish friendly relations with China. But all our efforts were nullified by the Government of the People’s Republic of China. China has wronged us deeply and offended our Government and people by her premeditated aggression against us. Despite our strong feelings about this aggression we have shown our desire for a peaceful settlement by accepting in toto the Colombo Proposals. We adhere to them and it is for China to reconsider her attitude towards these proposals and to give up the anti-Indian campaign that has been carried on in China and also amongst our friends in Asia and Africa.” On 24 June 1964, Prime Minister Shastri addressed the Chief Ministers’ Conference in New Delhi when he underscored the importance of agriculture and increasing production: “The real key to the problem is increased production and unless we achieve that we will always be faced with difficulties and our economy would be in jeopardy, leading to a crisis.

It is impossible to believe that we cannot increase our food production or we cannot fight the shortage of food in our country. How to do it?” Community development programme was his focus. “My feeling is that the Community Development Department should for the next one year do nothing else except concentrate its efforts on increasing agricultural production. Every worker in the block should see to it that every field is attended to. Every field must be surveyed to find out what is its present production, what it should be six months hence or a year later…So we have to work more in the fields and less in our offices. I remember the late Prime Minister having once suggested that the Food and Agriculture Department should be taken over by the Chief Ministers themselves. And he did so because the whole economy is based on adequate food production and total elimination of imports.” It pays to acknowledge Shastri’s knowledge of grassroots realities, when he said, “We derived all our strength before Independence from the peasants and from the cultivators. We went to villages, worked for months together.

I remember in the year 1934 ~ which was a very difficult period when a big movement was withdrawn by Gandhiji and the Congress was almost at its lowest ebb, I, as the Secretary of the District Congress Committee of Allahabad, went round the villages for full one month, explaining our policy or programmes to the people. So, in our freedom struggle, it was the cultivator, the peasant, who lent his fullest support to us.” He highlighted the question of the peasantry, and of food and agriculture essentially with its human element. “Our package programme has not been much (of a) success. It is a big experiment, a big trial, where you feed the cultivators with all the things needed by them. If we do not produce the desired results in a concentrated area it will depress me and depress all of you. It needs your fullest attention to know where things are lacking and what we should do in the case of other areas,” he said. Hailing from a farmers’ family, Shastri knew the dynamics of production, distribution and sale of foodgrains.

He warned, “Prices have gone very high. Wholesale prices in India are now at the highest level ever reached and we are entering the difficult lean season when prices normally rise further. The general index at 144.5 on May 30, 1964, is 8.6 per cent above the level a year ago. Prices of foodgrains, and other agricultural commodities, in particular have risen sharply in the past year. While prices of food articles have gone up by 13 per cent cereal prices have increased as much as 16.5 per cent. This rise in prices imposes extreme hardship and inequity on large sections of the people.” Sixty years after Shastri’s historic address, governments are grappling with similar issues, though intentions and perspectives are dissimilar

(The writer is a researcherauthor on history and heritage issues and a former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya)