Shastri's death...

......seems like a regular whodunit.

Didn't know these additional twists:

Particularly as the first inquiry was conducted only after the Emergency when the Janata government was in power. Called the Raj Narain Inquiry, it never came up with any conclusions but began the process. However, no record of this can be found in the Parliament library—by itself not a sinister event as lots of vital documents have disappeared often due to carelessness.

But there is an even more curious series of events linked to the inquiry. Two witnesses were scheduled to depose before this parliamentary body in 1977. One was R.N. Chugh, Shastri’s doctor who accompanied him to Tashkent. The second was Ram Nath, his personal servant, who was also present on the day of his death. Chugh was travelling to Delhi by road to testify before the committee and was hit by a truck and died. Ram Nath came to Delhi and visited Shastri’s widow before the deposition. According to family members, he told her, “Bahut din ka bojh tha, amma. Aaj sab bata denge (I have been carrying this burden too long. I will shed it today).” Ram Nath left the 1, Motilal Nehru, residence to make his way to Parliament. He was hit by a moving vehicle, his legs crushed (eventually amputated) and he lost his memory.

who could the likely cuplrits be? i remember gurcharan das holding shastri in high esteem for -- in the remarkably short period that he was PM for -- he ushered in two important revolutions: green revolution (pioneered by c. subramanium) and the milk revolution (pioneered by v. kurien). those were very precarious days for a vessel of wheat was leaving US shores for india by the hour or minute or so. c. subramanium had a high yield variety of wheat airlifted from south america (he was in such a hurry!). modern india should be grateful to shastri for his timely interventions.

Merlot Daruwala wrote:......seems like a regular whodunit.

Chugh was travelling to Delhi by road to testify before the committee and was hit by a truck and died. Ram Nath came to Delhi and visited Shastri’s widow before the deposition. According to family members, he told her, “Bahut din ka bojh tha, amma. Aaj sab bata denge (I have been carrying this burden too long. I will shed it today).” Ram Nath left the 1, Motilal Nehru, residence to make his way to Parliament. He was hit by a moving vehicle, his legs crushed (eventually amputated) and he lost his memory.[/i]

Indian reputation for road accidents, and the rare conviction of criminal drivers make LOrries the best and the safest weapon to kill anyone. Easy for cops to rule it as "accident" and close the file fast.

anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

Merlot Daruwala wrote:......seems like a regular whodunit.

Chugh was travelling to Delhi by road to testify before the committee and was hit by a truck and died. Ram Nath came to Delhi and visited Shastri’s widow before the deposition. According to family members, he told her, “Bahut din ka bojh tha, amma. Aaj sab bata denge (I have been carrying this burden too long. I will shed it today).” Ram Nath left the 1, Motilal Nehru, residence to make his way to Parliament. He was hit by a moving vehicle, his legs crushed (eventually amputated) and he lost his memory.[/i]

Indian reputation for road accidents, and the rare conviction of criminal drivers make LOrries the best and the safest weapon to kill anyone. Easy for cops to rule it as "accident" and close the file fast.

anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

>>>>This has also seemed fishy to me. What' with the secrecy in this thing and nearly 5 decades later?

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

who could have plotted his assasination? IG was still a novice, right?

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

who could have plotted his assasination? IG was still a novice, right?

>>> I always suspected a foreign hand, but an inside job possibility is even more disturbing.

Kris wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

who could have plotted his assasination? IG was still a novice, right?

>>> I always suspected a foreign hand, but an inside job possibility is even more disturbing.

My suspicion is on the Soviets. They had a cozy relationship with Nehru and could not afford to lose India with a "patriotic PM" at the helm - what with the Chinese and American adversaries. They might not have guessed or bet on IG, but anyone else could not be worse than Sastry for them. It just so happened that IG herself ended up as PM - must have been like Icing on the cake for the Soviets. If an impartial inquiry is conducted today, the Soviets will still be the culprits, which will have serious, serious implication for India-Ruskie relationship. Not to mention the troubles that it can create for the Indian armaments.

So, any which way you look at it, there will be no positive outcome, except for a very inconvenient truth.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

Kris wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

who could have plotted his assasination? IG was still a novice, right?

>>> I always suspected a foreign hand, but an inside job possibility is even more disturbing.

My suspicion is on the Soviets. They had a cozy relationship with Nehru and could not afford to lose India with a "patriotic PM" at the helm - what with the Chinese and American adversaries. They might not have guessed or bet on IG, but anyone else could not be worse than Sastry for them. It just so happened that IG herself ended up as PM - must have been like Icing on the cake for the Soviets. If an impartial inquiry is conducted today, the Soviets will still be the culprits, which will have serious, serious implication for India-Ruskie relationship. Not to mention the troubles that it can create for the Indian armaments.

So, any which way you look at it, there will be no positive outcome, except for a very inconvenient truth.

>>>>The Soviet angle makes sense. As to an impartial inquiry, I will belive it when I see it.

Kris wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:anyway, I dont think Sashtry's death was komboletely natural.

who could have plotted his assasination? IG was still a novice, right?

>>> I always suspected a foreign hand, but an inside job possibility is even more disturbing.

yes, the thought of an an inside job is unnerving. it is scary to think why the state is still prevaricating (on this issue).

regd. foreign hand: i just opened gurchuran das's book, india unbound (written in an epistolary fashion) and turned to the relevant pages. it does not seem the US could have been interested in seeing him "off" unless you can read between the lines (pp 128 - 131):

-----------------------------------------quoting from "india unbound"---------------------------------------------
shastri was aware that agriculture had been neglected. although he was guilty of ignoring it, nehru periodically expressed his frustration with the food situation. in 1957, nehru confessed with his usual candour: "it is a painful thought that after 10 years of independence, an agricultural country cannot feed itself. it would be wrong for us to blame the gods or the stars or floods and droughts. we must recognize that there must be something lacking in our approach which has led to this relative lack of success." honest words, indeed. alas, nehru's ability to act and manage did not equal his verbal capabilities. if nehru had wanted to focus on agriculture and food and had brought the weight of his office to bear on it, he could have made a difference. for years, the americans had been gently suggesting greater attention to agriculture. however, on each occasion, the ideologues around nehru had shot these proposals down, seeing in them an evil american plot to keep india pooor and underdeveloped. this despite the fact that america's foreign aid program to india -- over $600 million a year -- was at the time the largest in the world. ... when shastri took over, he rightly felt that this could not go on and agriculture reform became his top priority. one of shastri's first and best moves was to place c. subramanium, a dynamic and intelligent man, as a minister of food and agriculture. he had a modern mind and could be counted on to be independent and bold. he learned that norman borlaug, an american scientist, had developed a remarkable dwarf wheat in mexico which could dramatically raise output. he had found his answer. quietly and patiently, he negotiated with the states for several months. once he he had won their support, subramanium announced a dramatic new agricultural strategy. it gambled the nation on this new wheat.

c. subramanium was a man in a hurry and he chartered several boeing 707s and flew in 16,000 mt of seed of this miracle wheat. to support his gamble, he organized massive fertilizer imports and invited foreign private investment in fertilizer plants. the rest is history. this dwarf wheat went on to create the famous green revolution and make india self-sufficient in food. punjabi farmers still speak lovingly of mexico's lerma rojo, one of the earliest varieties to take root in their soil. indian democracy is not used to bold action by its leaders. not unexpectefdly, there was great criticism in parliament and the media. fortunately, the intellectual elite trusted subramanium, who also defended his policy with great skill and credibility. subramanium also impressed president lyndon johnson. "that subber maniyam of yours. he is a good feller," johnson told b. k. nehru. the american president was interested in india's food minister because india had been importing huge quantities of food grains ever year, which affected american farm policy, and this in turn had a great impact on politics in america. it is ironic that america was preaching capitalism to the world while engaging in such a vast socialist program at home. even more ironic is the history of official attitudes and prickly relations between the two largest democracies in the world. it is individuals who make history that the other way around, and no men did more harm to this relationship -- setting it on a sour path for 50 years -- than john foster dulles, the american secretary of state in the 1950s, and krishna menon, nehru's leftist confidant and india's representative at the untited nations at the time. after the bitter experience of british colonialism, india wanted to be neutral (nonaligned) in the cold war, but dulles declared, "you can either be our fried or our enemy." krishna menon compounded the folly by regularly lecturing to the world about evil american capitalism and imperialism, which naturally set the US state dept. on edge. no one in the subsequent years had the courage to reverse the stand on either side, and the relationship has remained strained ever since.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:My suspicion is on the Soviets...So, any which way you look at it, there will be no positive outcome, except for a very inconvenient truth.

true.