Shastri Era

by

Shastri Era

In this article , we will  deal with topic titled ‘Shastri Era .’

After death of Nehru, there was confusion that who would succeed him. There were two main contenders

        • Morarji Desai
        • Lal Bahadur Shastri

Shastri didn’t want to become PM and he advised that either Jaiprakash Narayan or Indira Gandhi should be made PM. On the other hand, Morarji Desai wasn’t enjoying backing of majority of Congress.

In 1963, Syndicate was formed (when No Confidence Motion was moved, Kamraj plan was prepared to make Congress strong again. Syndicate was part of that plan) . Syndicate supported the candidature of Shastri and he became PM.

Shastri’s Era

  • Challenges when Shastri became PM
        • Official Language Issue
        • Punjabi Suba Issue
        • Goa’s merger with Maharashtra
        • Unrest created in Kashmir by Sheikh Abdullah
        • Economic Crisis when PL 480 was suspended resulting in food shortages
  • Initially, Shastri wasn’t able to take major decisions to handle these crisis .
  • It was only during 1965 war that he started to assert himself and took bold measures often bypassing the decision of Syndicate to won that war. But he suddenly died at Tashkant and wasn’t able to reap benefit .

Question : Lal Bahadur Shastri was criticised as suffering from lack of decision making abilities in the initial period . However, it was overturned in 1965 war.

Indo-Pak War , 1965

  • Sheikh Abdullah and other leaders created a great deal of unrest in Kashmir valley.
  • Indian loss in 1962 war emboldened Pakistan
  • Pakistan attacked India as situation was vulnerable and Pakistan has also acquired military aid from US.
  • Pakistan first attacked the territory in Rann of Kutch . But due to the nature of terrain, military response of India was weak. This sent wrong signal to Pakistan that Indian forces are ill-equipped for war . As a result two operations were launched
        • Operation Gibralter : Pakistan sent infiltrators in the valley to generate Pro Pakistan uprising and creating conditions for it’s military intervension
        • Operation Grandslam : Pakistan planned to create unrest in Akhnoor so as to cut Kashmir’s link to rest of India
  • When India retaliated , China declared India to be initial aggressor. However, Soviet Union discouraged China to support Pakistan.
  • Under the pressure from UNSC, both countries aggreed to ceasefire. It was followed by signing of Tashkant Agreement which stated to return to pre-war situation (status quo ante)

Analysis

  • Despite being in a better situation, India aggreed to unfavourable terms because
      • The resumption of war would have been disasterous
      • India didn’t want to antagonise Soviet Union
  • It showed that secular principles have taken deep root in India since Pakistan attempts to flare up communal disharmony through Operation Gibralter remained unsuccessful.
  • Experience of 1965 war helped India to win 1971 war

Leave a Comment