Lal Bahadur Shastri’s son urges Narendra Modi government to speed up declassification of former PM’s files

Congress leader and son of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Anil Shastri, on Saturday said that the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government should declassify the files related to his father and set up an inquiry committee on his death, which took place suddenly on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent, hours after he had inked an agreement with Pakistan President Ayub Khan to formally end the second war between both nations.

“This issue is not raised today, this has been in discussion since long, as many believe that his death was not natural. I think the Modi Govt should declassify Shastri ji’s files, an inquiry committee should be setup,” Anil Shastri said.

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“Many people think L B Shastri ji’s death was not natural, his face had gone blue, his diary, where he used to write everything, that was missing along with his thermos which he used to keep all the time. He didn’t have a bell or a telephone in his room. A lot of negligence was there,” he added.

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Anil Shastri further said it is very difficult to say whether anything would come out of the inquiry, as the eyewitnesses have died now, but added that the files should be declassified.

Shastri was 61 at the time of his death. It was maintained then that he had died of cardiac arrest, but his family alleged foul play.