Declassify files on Lal Bahadur Shastri's death, Sunil Shastri urges PM Modi

VARANASI: Lal Bahadur Shastri's son Sunil Shastri today appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declassify all files related to the death of the former PM "to clear the air" around the circumstances of his passing away.

"It's my humble appeal to the Prime Minister... we want that all the files pertaining to his death must be declassified," Sunil, who is a BJP leader, said.

Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent on January 11, 1966 at the age of 61 soon after signing the Tashkent Pact with Pakistan. It was maintained that Shastri had died of cardiac arrest but his family had alleged foul play.

Modi had described Lal Bahadur Shastri as a proud son of India as he paid glowing tributes to the former premier at Tashkent this week.

"Wherever I go every second person who meets me asks me about what happened to Shastriji, how he died," Sunil, a former Rajya Sabha MP, said.

He said he had made a similar appeal three times to the previous Manmohan Singh government but nothing was done.

"The air must be cleared on the issue at the earliest as the whole nation wants to know what all happened to the second Prime Minister of this country, a day after the signing of Tashkent declaration," Sunil said.

He said the previous government refused to reveal information saying they were classified documents.