The Government of India’s refusal to reveal details pertaining to the sudden and mysterious death of the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at Tashkent in the erstwhile USSR gives rise to suspicion that it has many skeletons in its closet.
The cause of Shastri’s death has been shrouded in mystery for over 43 years, with several conspiracy theories doing the rounds. With the end of the Indo-Pak war in September 1965, Shastri and Pakistan President Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration on January 10, 1966. Shastri died the next night after he supposedly suffered a heart attack.
One theory is that he was killed by America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), while some others describe this as a political murder. There have also been several suggestions, all of them unsubstantiated, that Shastri’s successor Indira Gandhi had a role in his death. The Government’s refusal to de-classify the papers relating to the death has only added to the intrigue.
Shastri’s family including his wife Lalita Shastri had alleged that he died due to poisoning as his body had turned blue. It is said that the death came soon after he consumed milk allegedly laced with poison.
There are also conflicting reports on whether a post-mortem was conducted on Shastri’s body in the USSR or in India. Now, in a response to a Right to Information (RTI) plea filed by Anuj Dhar, author of CIA’s Eye on South Asia, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has stated that no postmortem was conducted in either of the two countries.
However, while admitting that it had one document related to Shastri’s death, the PMO refused to declassify it as it could lead to harming of foreign relations, cause disruption in the country and lead to breach of parliamentary privileges. The Government has also stated that it is in possession of a medical investigation conducted by Shastri’s personal physician.
The people of this country have every right to know what caused the death of their second Prime Minister, and the first step in this direction would be for the Government to declassify the relevant documents. This will also help the Government and the Congress party to clear the name of Indira Gandhi who has been unfairly tarnished by critics over the years.
Even in 1966, the Government made no credible efforts to ascertain the exact nature of Shastri’s demise. It is sad that the same apathy continues even to this day.
The question is: What is the Government trying to hide?
Source - http://content.msn.co.in/MSNContribute/Story.aspx?PageID=0e964653-f101-49ed-af30-276e0d519d31
The cause of Shastri’s death has been shrouded in mystery for over 43 years, with several conspiracy theories doing the rounds. With the end of the Indo-Pak war in September 1965, Shastri and Pakistan President Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Declaration on January 10, 1966. Shastri died the next night after he supposedly suffered a heart attack.
One theory is that he was killed by America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), while some others describe this as a political murder. There have also been several suggestions, all of them unsubstantiated, that Shastri’s successor Indira Gandhi had a role in his death. The Government’s refusal to de-classify the papers relating to the death has only added to the intrigue.
Shastri’s family including his wife Lalita Shastri had alleged that he died due to poisoning as his body had turned blue. It is said that the death came soon after he consumed milk allegedly laced with poison.
There are also conflicting reports on whether a post-mortem was conducted on Shastri’s body in the USSR or in India. Now, in a response to a Right to Information (RTI) plea filed by Anuj Dhar, author of CIA’s Eye on South Asia, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has stated that no postmortem was conducted in either of the two countries.
However, while admitting that it had one document related to Shastri’s death, the PMO refused to declassify it as it could lead to harming of foreign relations, cause disruption in the country and lead to breach of parliamentary privileges. The Government has also stated that it is in possession of a medical investigation conducted by Shastri’s personal physician.
The people of this country have every right to know what caused the death of their second Prime Minister, and the first step in this direction would be for the Government to declassify the relevant documents. This will also help the Government and the Congress party to clear the name of Indira Gandhi who has been unfairly tarnished by critics over the years.
Even in 1966, the Government made no credible efforts to ascertain the exact nature of Shastri’s demise. It is sad that the same apathy continues even to this day.
The question is: What is the Government trying to hide?
Source - http://content.msn.co.in/MSNContribute/Story.aspx?PageID=0e964653-f101-49ed-af30-276e0d519d31
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