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Shastri Jayanti: Modi, Murmu honour ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ legacy at Vijay Ghat

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu on Friday remembered former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birth anniversary, pairing the observances with Gandhi Jayanti. Modi offered floral tributes at Vijay Ghat after paying homage at Rajghat, saying the lives of both leaders — marked by simplicity, courage and service — continue to inspire generations and guide India’s progress.

Shastri Jayanti: Modi, Murmu honour ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ legacy at Vijay Ghat
India Gate, New Delhi — Unsplash (free).

Gentle exterior, steel resolve

In a video message, Modi said Shastri’s character had a rare quality: he appeared gentle and polite on the outside yet possessed an exceptionally strong will within. Recalling Shastri’s short tenure from June 1964 to January 1966, the Prime Minister said his dedication to national welfare found expression in the twin mantra “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,” elevating soldiers and farmers together as pillars of strength. Shastri was born on 2 October 1904 in Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh, and died in Tashkent on 11 January 1966 after the Indo-Pak war settlement talks.

Indian flag fluttering
National flag at a public gathering — Unsplash (free).

President Murmu separately highlighted Shastri’s enduring legacy of simplicity and service. Across parties, the dual anniversary shaped school programmes and social-media remembrances; Congress leaders who paid tribute to Gandhi also recalled Shastri and, in some posts, K. Kamaraj’s anniversary. The shared date again gave public broadcasters a single morning window for two founding-era narratives — moral politics and frugal statecraft.

Political memory with a policy echo

Leaders framed Shastri less as archival nostalgia and more as a template for farm–defence balance and austere governance. Wire coverage of Modi’s tribute is in Business Standard.

All-party remembrances at Vijay Ghat underlined how Shastri’s brief premiership still supplies a bipartisan vocabulary of austerity, farmer dignity and military resolve on a crowded national calendar.

Memorial stonework
Memorial stonework in soft light — Unsplash (free).

Related reading

Friday’s paired observances sit beside our Gandhi Jayanti report for the same national calendar day, giving readers a single brief on both memorials that share 2 October.

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