Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri is one of the few important Congress leaders who has gained an equal amount of praise and admiration from both the Congress as well as the right-wing RSS or Jansangh camps.
In the year 1965, Jansangh founder Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay heaped praise on Shastri for his leadership of the nation by calling him ‘Jan Nayak’.
Interestingly, the same sentiment was witnessed, when Shastri’s son Sunil Shastri showered his praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His speech was indeed surprising to the Congress leaders who gathered in Agra to meet and convey their greetings.
Talking to India Today in a special meeting, Sunil Shastri said that he felt honoured to be the son of that great man who never thought about himself and only did his duty towards the nation.
Shastri said that when his father died in Tashkent, he left him and his three brothers one room and one cot, on which all four of them slept. He said that his father was a simple man who believed in making India proud but did not think about himself for any kind of personal gains.
Drawing parallels between PM Narendra Modi with his father, Sunil Shastri said that PM Modi was working similar to that of his father, uplifting the respect and honour of India globally and devising sensational development schemes within the country like ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’.
Bhartiya Muslim Vikas Parishad chairman Sami Aghai said that while Shastri was quite active in keeping the country together after the sudden death of Pt. Nehru, PM Modi was busy planning ways to pit Hindus against Muslims and Upper Castes against Dalits.
“While Shastri dreamed of making India a prosperous world power and eradicate hunger and poverty from the country, PM Modi probably thinks about the colour of the suit he will wear the next day,” he said.
Dalit leader and social activist Rajkumar Nagrath said former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri came from a low background and always thought about the welfare of the citizens.
“It is surprising that Shastri’s son is likening PM Modi with his father when PM Modi is nothing but a stooge of the corporate giants like Ambani and Adani,” he said.
He also added that under Shastri, India was making advanced progress in eliminating hunger, while under Modi, India regressed by 20 years and the people will continue to pay the hefty price of making Narendra Modi the PM in 2014, for the next 2 decades.