Sunday, May 08, 2005
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Staff Reporter
TRIBUTE: Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, Union Minister, Jaipal Reddy, Sunil Shastri and others at the inauguration of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena
NEW DELHI: : More than half a century after he first walked through its porch, one of the country's most popular leaders, the former Prime Minister, late Lal Bahadur Shastri, has come back "home''. With his sprawling house on Motilal Nehru Marg going back in time to inspire future generations, his legacy is all set to move out of trunks and beyond the pages of history to become `alive'. From a blue overcoat - arguably the country's most `powerful' coat that was worn by the towering Jawaharlal Nehru as well as his successor, the tiny Lal Bahadur Shastri - to probably the smallest `cup' in history, the most treasured possessions of Lal Bahadur Shastri have finally returned to where they belong. All on display at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial that was inaugurated in the Capital by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, on Saturday, it will be a walk through his life and times.
Different families
"Nehru gave my father the overcoat when he was going to Kashmir. When he came back, my father tried to give it back, but Nehru told him to keep it saying that he would need it. My father always kept it and wore it whenever he went out. I don't think that there is another coat that has been worn by two Prime Ministers of the country who belong to different families,'' said his son Anil Shastri. The coat that had been part of his son's inheritance, has been carefully conserved by the National Museum. A man of simple needs, the second Prime Minister of the country might have not been a larger-than-life figure like Nehru, but he has managed to leave a legacy of honesty, bravery and commitment perhaps, just as enormous. Finding space for the things important to him like the overcoat and his spinning-wheel, the Memorial also has a room dedicated to the force behind him - his wife Lalita. Standing by him during his toughest times, she was the one who held his family together. "When my father was in jail during the freedom movement, he got a message telling him to come immediately as my mother was critically ill. He took two days of parole and came home with a doctor. After examining her, the doctor told my father that she had stopped eating and it was very serious. He made her promise that she would drink two cups of milk everyday. She didn't want to tell Babuji that there was no money and that she couldn't afford milk. So she went to the blacksmith to ask him to make her a small cup, in return for her gold bangle, so that she didn't break her promise to him,'' said a tearful Sunil Shastri. The `Fiat' car still parked outside his house on display represents an era of politics with a purpose that is now only the stuff of legends or found in museums. A 1964 model that he bought with a loan from the Punjab National Bank when he was Prime Minister, but he died before repaying the loan.
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