Death and state funeral of Lal Bahadur Shastri

Common card · No. 216291

Lal Bahadur Shastri, India’s second Prime Minister, died early 11 January 1966 in Tashkent, then in the Soviet Union. He was 61 and the official cause was reported as a myocardial infarction. Shastri had been in Tashkent since 4 January 1966 for peace talks brokered by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin between India and Pakistan. The Tashkent Declaration was signed on 10 January, and within hours Shastri complained of chest pain and died suddenly in the Soviet-provided villa. News of his death prompted nationwide shock and a state funeral in New Delhi. Despite the official ruling, the absence of an on-site post-mortem and reports of unexplained marks on his body when it returned to India have led Shastri’s family and some colleagues to question the natural-causes verdict. Over time, numerous conspiracy theories have arisen, alleging anything from foul play to foreign involvement. RTI requests for related documents have been repeatedly denied by the Prime Minister’s Office on grounds of national...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Viksb, CC BY-SA 3.0