Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM Inaugurates Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial

"It is a great honour to be associated with the inauguration of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial in the Centenary year of birth of this great leader of our country. Shastriji, by any reckoning was an extraordinary leader. He was a freedom fighter, a maker of modern India, a distinguished parliamentarian, a statesman and, above all, an outstanding human being. He was an idealist, but also a hard-headed realist. The idealism and simplicity of his life made him a living embodiment of honesty, integrity and humility. The nobility and the strength of his character and his conviction remained at the root of his emergence as a towering leader of our country.

Shastriji gave our country a sense of security and comfort during a turbulent and trying period, when the world speculated over the question, "After Nehru Who?" It was also a time when questions were being asked about India's political stability and economic well‑being. Shastriji's leadership style earned him the trust and confidence of this nation. It helped him steer the nation past many difficulties. His rectitude and integrity were equally matched by considerable administrative acumen and great competence. It would have been a formidable prospect for any leader to succeed a colossus like Jawaharlal Nehru and leave behind even a reasonable record of governance. The fact that Shashtriji did so amply spoke of his inner strength and his ability to rise to the occasion.

The most difficult and trying situation that we faced early in Shastriji's tenure as Prime Minister was India-Pakistan conflict of 1965. Shastriji's heroism and competent leadership have since become legendary. He electrified the nation with his soul-stirring slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan". This vision of his, that "the Kisan is as much a soldier as the Jawan" underlined the need to boost our food production, which contributed greatly to strengthening the defences of our country.

Apart from contributing to laying the foundations of food security in our country, we are also indebted to Shastriji for the present‑day success of the White Revolution. Shastriji visited Kaira district in October 1964 and was greatly impressed by the successes of our milk cooperatives. He urged the rest of the country to learn from the successful experiment at Anand. In fact, the National Dairy Development Board was formed in 1965 during his tenure as Prime Minister. This project has since helped us create self‑sufficiency in milk production, trebling the nation's milk production within a span of two and a half decades.

Shastriji not only defended the country against external aggression and internal poverty, he also waged a relentless battle against corruption and in favour of values in our public life. His decision to resign from the position of Union railway minister after a rail accident has become a popular tale of public accountability for generations. As the Union Home Minister he was instrumental in appointing one of the first‑ever Committees on Prevention of Corruption under the Chairmanship of K. Santhanam. Today, with the benefit of hindsight, the steps taken by Shastriji assume enormous significance in the struggle to eliminate corruption and restore faith in our governance.

Shastriji was also committed to an open and liberal economy. Anticipating later‑day views on economic reform, he once observed, "As we function in a democracy - and democracy is the basis of our political structure - we cannot have a regimented type of economy." And yet he was also Gandhian in his own approach, being committed to the concept of the social responsibility of business.

I must also recall here Shastriji's strong commitment to secularism and the welfare of all sections of our society. His commitment to the welfare of minorities and to communal harmony is well known. When a foreign news agency tried to portray the India- Pakistan conflict of 1965 as a "communal" conflict, Shastriji took great offence to this canard. He said, "We are not working to make India a Hindu or a Muslim State. It is a distortion of facts to accuse India of hostility to Pakistan on account of the narrow point of view of religion. The defence of the country has nothing to do with religion; it is a matter of the freedom and sovereignty of the Motherland".

Panditji himself paid a handsome tribute to the qualities of head and heart of Shastriji when he once said, "No one could wish for a better comrade than Lal Bahadur. A man of highest integrity and devoted to ideals is called Lal Bahadur" these are the words of great Jawaharlal Nehru.

This Memorial is a crystallization of the history of the great ideals for which Shastriji stood. It is no exaggeration to say that he lived for these values, and that laid down his life for them. I am sure his life and work will inspire generations to come to dedicate their lives to the fullest expression of our Nation's vast latent development potential.

Once again, I am grateful for this unique opportunity to inaugurate this memorial. I commend this symbol of a great life that was well‑lived to our people."