Shastri, Lal Bahadur (1904-1966)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1966 Jan 13 p. 3

Birth date: 1904 Oct 2

text of obituary:

. . .

Prime Minister of India Dies at Tashkent

Lal Bahadur Shastri, prime minister of India, died suddenly of a heart attack shortly after midnight on Tuesday in the Soviet city of Tashkent, where he and President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan had signed a non-aggression pact on the previous day.

The Soviet Union had arranged the meeting between the two leaders in an effort to settle their war over Kashmir.

The 61-year-old, 110-pound Shastri, who succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru 19 months ago, had suffered two previous heart attacks. His personal physician, together with several Russian doctors, tried in vain to save his life.

The body was flown back to New Delhi and then taken to the banks of the sacred Jimma River, where it was cremated. Dignitaries from many nations attended the funeral, with the United States represented by Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

Gulzarilal Nanda, 67, is the new Prime Minister of India.