India's first 'tyaagi' economic reformer

When Lal Bahadur Shastri's body reached the Palam airport on the freezing morning of January 11, 1966, thousands of people lined up for his antim darshan.

There was a silence of disbelief. They were not political supporters. These were mostly people who had nothing to do with politics. They were from all sections of India and waited as if their own family member's body was going to arrive.

People loved Lal Bahadur Shastri who, in a short period, had won everyone's heart and respect with his honesty, sincerity and passionate dedication to serving the downtrodden.

He not only brought back the lost glory by winning the war but rekindled the pride of forgotten people, especially, farmers.

People were fully aware that he didn't even have the money to buy a personal car; he had to take a bank loan to get one. While Nehru's era was engulfed with corruption, Shastri showed a humble way of life-based on tyaga or sacrifice.

After his mysterious death in Tashkent, obituaries poured in from all over the world, which reflected the respect he had garnered in such a short time. "Lal Bahadur Shastri died at a pinnacle of popularity that no one in India believed possible when he succeeded the late Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister barely nineteen months ago," reported the New York Times.

It was said that "Nehru died too late and Shastri's death came too early". Though it is widely believed that his popularity had soared because of his response to the war with Pakistan in 1965, Shastri introduced unprecedented reforms in the economy.

It won't be wrong to say that he was India's first economic reformer. Though he was expected to follow Nehruvian economics of emphasis on physical controls instead of prices, focus on industry instead of agriculture and crushing web of controls, he realised that it was proving inimical to national development.

In a very short period of time, Shastri dismantled it piece by piece. He pumped in fresh thinking into India's development strategy. People understood that Shastri wore no ideological blinkers. Instead, he saw facts as they were in reality and how they could be tackled with practical solutions to help the downtrodden.

Unlike Nehru, he went about his job in quietly, without any showmanship.

Myron Weiner, a professor in Political Science at MIT, praised Shastri's policies to improve Indian agriculture and to increase the production of consumer goods. Shastri's growing dependence on the free market mechanism and removal of government control from the steel industry relieved many Indian economists and businessmen, observed Weiner.

The American ambassador to India, John Kenneth Galbraith said that Shastri's ability to manage Indian affairs during "one of the most difficult periods in Indian history" was a "very considerable achievement." He cited Shastri's skill in dealing with India's food and border problems and in substituting Hindi for English as the official language.

Shastri exuded courage, conviction and gave hope to people. He was a symbol of tyaga. He personified the Hindu philosophy of 'Sada jeevan, uchchvichar' (simple living, high thinking).

Shastri, in his personal life, was very simple, against wastage of resources and fanatic about honesty in public life. As AICC general secretary, he used to give his wife Lalitaji a monthly allowance of Rs 40. When he came to know that she had managed to save Rs 10 out of it, he felt he was overpaying her and cut ten rupees from her allowance!

Therefore, there remain legitimate grounds to speculate how the Indian economy would have developed had Shastri lived longer. India went on to adopt similar reform measures 25 years later, which put the economy on a higher growth trajectory. The little man was just way ahead of his times.

When Lal Bahadur appealed for a voluntary vrat (fasting), India was going through a food crisis. Shashtri used 'tyaag' as a political shashtra (weapon) to address it besides sowing the seeds of a Green Revolution.

Politics needs optics, and optics which are ingrained in the Indian ethos, are always most effective. Vrat is part of Indian culture. Shastri used it to make a point about the food crisis.

Nehru didn't learn tyaag from Gandhi. Shastri did. How does a country transform? Only when people start making small sacrifices, we can transform. Tyaag is the highest quality a man can possess, a door to shuddhi or cleansing. Without shuddhi there is no transformation.

A lot of media people and intellectuals, who were patronised by Nehru and became the beneficiaries of the seeping corruption, called Shastri's call for 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan' a political gimmick and a deviation from the Nehruvian ideology. They were not prepared to sacrifice one meal and intellectualised their lack of commitment to the national cause instead. However, millions of Indians did fast on Sundays.

If we entrust our destiny in a leader's hands, we must be prepared to be led by him on the path of change. If that path requires sacrifice then why shouldn't the true followers be ready to sacrifice?

If Bharat has to become truly independent then tyaag has to be mutual. Citizens must always choose tyaag- based leadership over leaders with egos.

I believe I was destined to make a film on Lal Bahadur Shastri's mysterious death. My young team went through insurmountable difficulties and sacrifice and we faced immense opposition. But it was our 'tyaag' and 'tapsya' (worship) that brought us to this day, when for the first time in independent India, on October 2, a film other than Gandhi will be shown on national television — 'The Tashkent Files'.

What gives me immense satisfaction is that children all over India will learn that October 2 is not only Gandhi Jayanti, but also Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti. What can be a more fitting tribute to this great 'tyaagi' son of the soil of India?

(Author is a filmmaker, bestselling author, and a free thinker. He can be reached at @vivekagnihotri)