Editing Lal Bahadur Shastri (section)

==Early activities (1921–1945)==
While his family had no links to the independence movement then taking shape, among his teachers at Harish Chandra High School was an intensely patriotic and highly respected teacher named Nishkameshwar Prasad Mishra, who gave Shastri much-needed financial support by allowing him to tutor his children. Inspired by Mishra's patriotism, Shastri took a deep interest in the freedom struggle, and began to study its history and the works of several of its noted personalities, including those of [[Swami Vivekananda]], [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Annie Besant]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} In January 1921, when Shastri was in the 10th standard and three months from sitting the final examinations, he attended a public meeting in [[Benares]] hosted by Gandhi and [[Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya]]. Inspired by the Mahatma's call for students to withdraw from government schools and join the non-cooperation movement, Shastri withdrew from Harish Chandra High School the next day and joined the local branch of the Congress Party as a volunteer, actively participating in picketing and anti-government demonstrations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Contact Us – IndiaInfoline|url=https://www.indiainfoline.com/contactus|access-date=2020-12-07|website=www.indiainfoline.com|language=en|archive-date=28 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128160026/https://www.indiainfoline.com/contactus|url-status=live}}</ref> He was soon arrested and jailed, but was then let off as he was still a minor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Young Satyagrahi|work=Free India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119032817/http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm|archive-date=19 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|C.P. Srivastava|1995|pp=20–22}}

Shastri's immediate supervisor was a former [[Benares Hindu University]] lecturer named [[J.B. Kripalani]], who would become one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement and one among Gandhi's closest followers.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-10-02|title=मां ने कर्ज लेकर करवाई शास्त्री जी की पढ़ाई, पढ़ें कुछ दिलचस्प बातें|url=https://www.bhaskar.com/news/UP-VAR-interesting-facts-about-lal-bahadur-shastri-on-his-birth-anniversary-5710057-PHO.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111230835/https://www.bhaskar.com/news/UP-VAR-interesting-facts-about-lal-bahadur-shastri-on-his-birth-anniversary-5710057-PHO.html|archive-date=2020-11-11|access-date=2020-12-07|website=Dainik Bhaskar|language=hi}}</ref> Recognising the need for the younger volunteers to continue their educations, Kripalani and a friend, V.N. Sharma, had founded an informal school centered around "nationalist education" to educate the young activists in their nation's heritage and with the support of a wealthy philanthropist and ardent Congress nationalist, Shiv Prasad Gupta, the [[Kashi Vidyapith]] was inaugurated by Gandhi in Benares as a national institution of higher education on 10 February 1921. Among the first students of the new institution, Shastri graduated with a first-class degree in philosophy and ethics from the Vidyapith in 1925. He was given the title ''[[Shastri]]'' ("scholar").<ref>{{Cite web|title='वर्मा' से 'शास्त्री' कैसे बने पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री लाल बहादुर?|url=https://hindi.news18.com/news/knowledge/lal-bahadur-shastri-birth-anniversary-how-he-changed-verma-title-into-shastri-know-interesting-story-dlva-2476165.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004032425/https://hindi.news18.com/news/knowledge/lal-bahadur-shastri-birth-anniversary-how-he-changed-verma-title-into-shastri-know-interesting-story-dlva-2476165.html|archive-date=2019-10-04|access-date=2020-12-07|website=News18 India|date=2 October 2019}}</ref> The title was a bachelor's degree awarded by the institution but it stuck as part of his name.{{sfn|C.P. Srivastava|1995|pp=23–28}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page8.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri: Tilak and Gandhi|work=Free India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061217030052/http://freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page8.htm|archive-date=17 December 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Shastri enrolled himself as a life member of the [[Servants of the People Society]] (Lok Sevak Mandal), founded by [[Lala Lajpat Rai]], and began to work for the betterment of the [[Harijan]]s under Gandhi's direction at [[Muzaffarpur]].<ref name="rrtd_lbs">{{cite web|url=http://rrtd.nic.in/lalbahadurshastri.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904–1966)|publisher=Research Reference and Training Division, Ministry Of Information And Broadcasting, Government Of India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010632/http://rrtd.nic.in/lalbahadurshastri.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Later he became the President of the Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri: The Servants of the People Society|work=Free India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119032817/http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page9.htm|archive-date=19 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Grover|1993|pp=547–}}

===Independence Activism of Lal Bahadur Shastri===
In 1928 Shastri became an active and mature member of the Indian National Congress at the call of Mahatma Gandhi. He was imprisoned for two and a half years.<ref name="freeindia_freedom_soldier">{{cite web|url=http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page11.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri: Freedom's Soldier|work=Free India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119032758/http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page11.htm|archive-date=19 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Later, he worked as the Organizing Secretary of the Parliamentary Board of [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|U.P.]] in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web|last=WD|title=लाल बहादुर शास्त्री पर हिन्दी निबंध|url=http://hindi.webdunia.com/hindi-essay/lal-bahadur-shastri-113093000078_1.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202140834/http://hindi.webdunia.com/hindi-essay/lal-bahadur-shastri-113093000078_1.html|archive-date=2019-12-02|access-date=2020-12-07|website=hindi.webdunia.com|language=hi}}</ref> In 1940, he was sent to prison for one year, for offering individual [[Satyagraha]] support to the independence movement.<ref name="freeindia_prison_again">{{cite web|url=http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page13.htm|title=Lal Bahadur Shastri: In Prison Again|work=Free India|access-date=13 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070119032519/http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatleaders/shastri/page13.htm|archive-date=19 January 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 8 August 1942, Mahatma Gandhi issued the [[Quit India speech]] at [[Gowalia Tank]] in [[Bombay]], demanding that the British leave India. Shastri, who had just then come out after a year in prison, travelled to [[Allahabad]]. For a week, he sent instructions to the independence activists from [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]'s home, [[Anand Bhavan]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Chopra, Swami Rajesh |url=http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/LalBahadurShastri.html |title=Lal Bahadur Shastri |work=Live India |access-date=5 December 2012 |archive-date=8 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708063825/http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/LalBahadurShastri.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He served as an elected representative for [[United Provinces (1937–50)|United Provinces]] in [[1937 Indian provincial elections|1937]] and [[1946 Indian provincial elections|1946]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=स्वाभिमान के लिए लाल बहादुर शास्त्री जब उफनाती गंगा नदी में तैरकर पहुंचे थे घर|url=https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/india/know-facts-about-former-lal-bahadur-shastri-on-his-birth-anniversary-1757513|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913235710/https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/india/know-facts-about-former-lal-bahadur-shastri-on-his-birth-anniversary-1757513|archive-date=2019-09-13|access-date=2020-12-07|website=[[NDTV|NDTVIndia]]}}</ref>