India
Family of former Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri believe that his death way back in 1965 may not have been due to natural causes.
Updated : Sep 26, 2015, 01:11 PM IST
Family of former Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri, believe that his death in 1965 may not have been due to natural causes.
Anil Shastri, Lal Bahadur Shastri's son, has urged the Modi government to declassify all the files relating to the former PM. He has also demanded that the government set up a probe commission to look into the matter.
Lal Bahadur Shastri, died in Tashkent after signing the Tashkent Pact. For long, doubts have been raised about his death especially since he was reportedly physically fit and had no prior heart disease before his tragic demise.
According to Anil Shastri, the Indian Embassy was careless when the entire incident took place.
Many people think LB Shastri ji's death was not natural, his face had gone blue,his diary was missing-Anil Shastri pic.twitter.com/YgjWVdYULL
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 26, 2015
Shastri ji's room in Tashkent did not even have bell or telephone,he could not get even first aid.Indian Embassy was careless-Anil Shastri
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 26, 2015
There have been allegations of evidence pertaining to records of Lal Banhadur Shastri's death being destroyed, however the Central government in the past has firmly denied it.
Reacting to the entire controversy, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit termed it 'blackmailing'. He raised the question of why Anil Shastri had been silent for the four and half decades since the death.
This entire controversy comes closely in heels of the debate regarding declassification of Netaji files. For long Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's family for long has asked the government to declassify files to solve the mystery behind Subhas Chandra's disappearance in 1945. But successive governments have been extremely circumspect and has refused to declassify the files citing diplomatic ramifications.
The matter picked up wind after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee declassified files which were there with the state government. So now the pressure is on Modi government to declassify the Netaji files. This latest demand by Anil Shastri to declassify all files related to former PM will only add to the pressure on the current regime.
Also Read: After Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, it is now Lal Bahadur Shastri's turn to haunt Congress