Was there a mystery behind the sudden passing away of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashent in 1966? While the death of one of India’s popular and honest politician-PM, raised questions over decades it seemed to have subsided and confined to history books.

But, the order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Prime Minister’s Office and other concerned ministries to make public all `Classified’‘ documents that could throw fresh light and perhaps unravel any mystery if involved, has renewed interest in the life of the man who gave India the slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’.

The September 24 ruling by CIC, Sridhar Acharyulu has upheld the people’s right to know the truth behind the death of Lal BahadurShastri. At the same time it asked the PMO, External Affairs and Home Ministry to place Classified documents before the PM and Home Minister so that a decision can be taken to declassify them and facilitate probe through an expert committee or by any other process to resolve the mystery.

The final directives of the CIC were in response to an RTI applicant seeking to know if autopsy was done on Lal Bahadur Shastri who had died on January 11, 1966 in Tashkent in the erstwhile Soviet Union reportedly due to a heart attack hours after signing a declaration with Pakistan President Muhammad Ayub Khan post-1965 Indo-Pak war in the presence and initiative of Alexei Kosygin the Soviet Premier.

Acharyulu said it was surprising to note that crucial records pertaining to the probe conducted by the Raj Narain Committee into Shastri’s death during the Janata Party Government were missing. Urging the authorities to secure them, the CIC said in view of the startling and controversial incidents like the mysterious death of RN Chugh, personal doctor of the ex PM, disappearance of records and suspicions raised by eminent Journalist like Kuldip Nayar and close relatives, including Lalitha Shastri, it was in the fitness of things that the mystery be resolved in a thorough manner.

The ruling by the CIC has the potential to lead to the practise of declassifying the so called `top secret’, classified and other documents in Government that can be termed in public interest. The present Government has already taken the historical decision in 2015 that led to the putting at least 33 files related to the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW