Gentle and kind, soft of speech but firm in action, Lal Bahadur Shastri represents the spirit of democracy – given equal opportunity, any man of virtue and merit can rise to the highest political office. Shastriji combined in himself the humility of a social worker and the dynamism of the commander of forces in a war. Shastriji became the General Secretary of the Allahabad District Congress Committee in
1930 and later become its President. He was returned to the UP Legislative Assembly in 1937. He became Chief Minister Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant's Parliamentary Secretary in 1946. The next year he became a Minister in the U.P. cabinet holding the portfolio of police and transport. Shastriji moved to Delhi in 1951 as the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee. As one who had known Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru earlier, he came closer to him when he came to Delhi. He became the Minister of Railways and Transport at the Centre in 1951. He resigned his Ministership in 1956 owning moral responsibility for a train accident in South India (Ariyalur). He joined the Cabinet again in 1957 and handled several portfolios including Home. On the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964 he was elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party and thereby became the Prime Minister of India. He provided inspiring leadership to the nation during the Indo-Pak War of 1965. He went to Tashkent for talks with the Pakistan Prime Minister in January, 1966 but unfortunately died of a heart attack.