MY FAVOURITE LEADER: Essay Topics

MY FAVOURITE LEADER

There is no end to the choice of a favourite leader but as far as I am concerned, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri is my favourite leader. He was born on October 2, 1094, at Mughalsarai, a town of UP. He belonged to a lower middle class family. He was born and brought up in the cradle of poverty.

Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri got his early education at Kashi Vidyapeth. It was the place where he drank the rich springs of Indian culture and civilization. He moulded his living according to the Indian way of life.

After completing his education, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri turned to the poor condition of his countrymen under the British rule. He could not tolerate the sufferings of his countrymen. He was deeply moved by the starvation and nakedness of his countrymen. Compelled by these circumstances, he joined Indian politics. He came in contact with great Indian national leaders like Nehru. He worked hard and fought bravely. He became a member of the Servants of the People’s Society. He joined Congress and worked under its leaders who were leading the national movement.

When India got her freedom, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri handled difficult tasks. He held important offices in the Indian National Congress and became Union Minister several times. As a minister, whether of Railways, Commerce and Industry or Home Affairs, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri discharged his duties efficiently and satisfactorily.

After the death of Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Shri Shastri became second Prime Minister of free India. So he rose to the topmost position of the land. The tenure of his Prime Ministership from June 1964 till his death (January 11, 1966) at Tashkent would go down in Indian history as a decisive period. It was this period during which he had to face many grave crises like food, famine and above all Pakistan’s attack on India. But he emerged triumphant from all these ordeals and trials. In the days of Indo-Pakistan war of September, 1965, he gave the country a brave and dedicated leadership.

Shri Shastri was a thorough democrat and staunch nationalist. He was a propagonist of Bharatiya Sankskriti. He was a man of the people. He was a blend of firmness, flexibility, patience and perseverance. He possessed the courage of Patel and the temper of Gandhi. He possessed fine qualities of the head and the heart. He was an astute politician and an honest statesman. Keeping his ideals of democracy and secularism alive would perhaps be the best tribute that could be paid to the memory of this patriot and a noble son of India.