SHASTRI'S  DEATH

Your Prime Minister is Dead by Anuj Dhar ; Published by  Vitasta ; Pages 289; Price Rs.395/-

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The book under review deals with the sudden death of the Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent. The reader will  be left gasping at the unusual  twists and turns. It has all the makings of  a realistic  historical whodunit, the answers to which are as incredible  as the death of Shastri  itself.

The second Prime Minister of India,  Shastri was a simple person and a dedicated leader. His tenure as Prime Minister was from 9th June 1964 until his death on 11th January 1966, which is barely 19 months. Shastri was a short man but as they say “good things come in small packages”. In the short duration of his stint Shastri  achieved many things that are having a lasting impact on the development of our nation.  Shastri was a true disciple of Mahatma Gandhi . He always wore Khadi garments.

Dhar’s book  is  the first-ever comprehensive study of the elusive demise of  Shastri in a foreign land.

Surely the angel of death  was hiding in that dacha  in Tashkent that fateful night as the Prime Minister  retired after an eventful day of signing up the Indo--Pak Tashkent pact.

The Tashkent agreement between India and Pakistan was signed around 4 pm in full glare of officials and media. History was made as Shastri and Ayub Khan  shook hands.  Was this to be  the last handshake of the beloved PM ?. India and the world woke up next day to hear the sudden demise of the Prime Minister who seemed pink in health the previous evening walking around at ease as he mingled and mixed freely with several  foreign delegates.

 Shastri had died thousands of miles  away from home. The first sign of controversy  emerged  immediately after his obituary was read out  in the parliament. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first leader to lament the demise followed by many tall leaders.

Shastri’s wife Lalita  was  interviewed by  the highly respected  Hindi weekly Dharmyug.

According to her when she  saw her husband’s body it didn’t appear normal . His face was dark bluish. The body was bloated. It bore signs of cuts and clothes were soaked in blood. As the family members raised doubts suddenly from nowhere sandalwood paste was brought in and  smeared on Shastri’s face.

Shastri went to Tashkent to participate in a Soviet mediated peace talks with General Ayub Khan, the then military dictator of Pakistan. On 10th January, Shastri and Ayub Khan signed  the peace treaty which later came to be known as the Tashkent Declaration. On the early morning of 11th January at 2 a.m. Shastri died in his room at Tashkent under mysterious circumstances. Two people were witness to the final moments of Shastri, Dr. Chugh and Shastri’ s personal attendant Ram Nath.  The official statement given out by Dr. Chugh and a team of Russian doctors mentioned that Shastri died of heart attack.

When Shastri’s dead body arrived in India, people could notice that the body was swollen and had turned blackish-blue. There were cut marks on his body with dried blood. These raised serious suspicions about the reasons behind Shastri’s death. Most people were of the opinion that he must have been poisoned. Shastri’s family and the public demanded a post-mortem report on his body and an investigation to be made into the circumstances leading to his death. The then government ignored this request and over a period of time this matter faded from the public consciousness.

Anuj Dhar in his  comprehensive study covers  the discussions, observations, prejudices,  and revelations of an  unsolved  mystery that shrouded the demise. Shastri’s  son  Hari Shastri  told the media that the family suspected foul play from the very beginning . When he voiced his doubts  he was silenced by the government officials. He also revealed that  his father’s personal diary and the flask from which he had water before he died had gone missing.

Anuj Dhar has perfectly presented well-researched facts offering seemingly convincing explanations for the lacunae cited by the lawmakers. He has even pointed out the intricate details of the medication administered.

 The medical report in Russian stated that the mixture injected into Shastri’s body by the anti-shock group of doctors was of calcium chlorine, adrenaline and glucose.  While the translation of the report in English stated that to be a concoction of potassium chloride, adrenaline and glucose. The difference in the two reports obviously was due to the mistake in the translation as the Russian words for calcium and potassium are very similar.They are Kali for potassium and Kai tsi for calcium. Thus washing away the questions raised, it was stated that by no reasoning can the discrepancy be construed as creating a suspicion.

However, in spite of the initial suspicion of poisoning, no post-mortem was done, either in Russia or in India.

The author has included all the clarifications that were issued by the government proving it to be a natural death. Dhar says that he was propelled to revisit the facts as there was a constant nagging that disturbed him. He filed the first ever RTI application regarding the demise with the PMO. He did get a reply only to find his questions being transferred to different departments without giving any convincing evidence or explanation.

PMO also replied to Anuj as they stated that under section 8(1) (a) of RTI act government was not obliged to part with information whose disclosure could prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India. In 2009, the PMO had replied that it had only one document relating to Shastri’s death but refused to declassify it under a clause that would “prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of the country, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, relation with foreign state or lead to incitement of an offence”.

Dhar, however, was relentless in his pursuit of the truth and he has furnished  a detailed analysis of the death mystery. While many will  agree with  Dhar as he opines that he too like many sincerely want to believe that Shastriji died a natural death,  available information  compels  him to draw a conclusion to the  contrary.  Nightmarish scenarios starts startle us as we go through  the book.

There is an even more curious series of events linked to the inquiry. Two witnesses were scheduled to depose before the parliamentary body in 1977. One was Dr.R.N. Chugh, Shastri’s doctor who accompanied him to Tashkent. The second was Ram Nath, his personal servant, who was also present on the day of his death. Dr.Chugh was travelling to Delhi by road to testify before the Committee and was hit by a truck and died. Ram Nath came to Delhi and visited Shastri’s widow before the deposition. According to family members, he told her, “Bahut din ka bojh tha, amma. Aaj sab bata denge (I have been carrying this burden too long. I will shed it today).” Ram Nath left the  Motilal Nehru, residence to make his way to Parliament. He was hit by a moving vehicle, his legs crushed (eventually amputated) and he lost his memory.

 The book sheds light on the mystery, covering almost all angles thoroughly researched. He concludes with – “Countless are still restless.”

P.S--There is a Hindi film entitled " The Tashkent Files " based on this subject.

                                                                     

 P.P.Ramachandran.

25/08/2019.