Shastri, Lal Bahadur (1904-66), prime minister
of India (1964-66), born near Varanasi in Uttar
Pradesh. A follower of Mohandas K. Gandhi, he
was imprisoned several times by the British for
nationalist activities. When India achieved independence
(1947), he became a minister in the state government
of Uttar Pradesh, and he later served in the federal
cabinet as minister of transport (1952-56), industry
(1957-61), and home affairs (1961-63). Shastri
became prime minister on the death of Jawaharlal
Nehru in 1964. The principal event of his tenure
was the undeclared war with Pakistan over the
Rann of Kachchh that began in April 1965 and subsequently
spread to Kashmîr. He died immediately after
signing a Soviet-mediated "no-war" agreement
with Pakistan in Toshkent, USSR, in January 1966.
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