New Delhi: Delhi BJP Spokesperson Tajinder Bagga has demanded the declassification of files related to former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death. 

He tweeted, “Truth about the murderer of Sh Lal Bahadur Shastri ji should come out. I request PM @narendramodi Ji to declassify the death files related to Sh Lal Bahadur Shastri Ji”.

 

Lal Bahadur Shastri was India’s first prime minister to die while in office. In 1966, Shastri and then Pakistan president Ayub Khan met in Russia, where they had gone to attend a summit organised by Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin. In the meeting, a declaration was signed between India and Pakistan that decided that the armies of the two nations would retrieve their positions and return to base, post the 1965 war.

Shastri died the day the declaration was signed under mysterious circumstances. Official reports say he died of multiple cardiac arrests, however, others suggest that he was poisoned since his body was found blue (suggesting poisoning) and was full of cuts. No post-mortem was done either in India or in Russia. There were three suspects: Indira Gandhi, the Russians, and the CIA; however, it still remains unclear as to who killed Shastri. 

Bollywood film director Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming film The Tashkent Files is a thriller about the death of Shastri. The film has been written and directed by Agnihotri and it stars Naseeruddin Shah & Mithun Chakraborty.

Earlier in an interview to MyNation, Agnihotri claimed the nation is robbed of its right to know and the reality will change the political narrative of the country. 

Anuj Dhar's book Your Prime Minister Is Dead is the first-ever comprehensive study of Shastri's mysterious death. Dhar puts together a disturbing narrative going against the official version.

More than Agnihotri's film, which is yet to be released, Dhar's book created the pressure. The Modi administration is well aware of Dhar's influence, as his previous book India's Biggest Cover-Up has been instrumental in getting the Netaji files declassified.

Regardless of whether the Modi government declassifies the files or not, the demand from a BJP spokesperson, the upcoming movie and Dhar's book on the same issue has got people talking.