Today’s History: The country’s first PM Nehru died, 5 days ago on asking the name of the successor, he said – I will not die soon

On the afternoon of May 27, 1964, it was reported on the radio at 2 o’clock that the Prime Minister of the country, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was no more. After this this news spread like fire all over the world. Just two hours later, Gulzari Lal Nanda, the Home Minister of the Nehru government, was made the caretaker prime minister.

After this, the search for the successor of Pandit Nehru started, because Nehru himself had not said anything about it while he was alive. The task of finding his successor was given to Congress President K Kamaraj at that time. The first name that came in the race was that of Morarji Desai, but there was no consensus on this name. After four days of hard work, the Congress elected Lal Bahadur Shastri as the leader and with this he became the next Prime Minister of the country.

Lal Bahadur Shastri took oath as the second Prime Minister of the country 13 days after the death of Pandit Nehru.

Nehru was the Prime Minister of India for 16 years 9 months and 12 days, which is a record till date. During this time he never gave any indication about his successor. Even 5 days before his death, he was asked about this in a press conference, he replied, ‘I have started thinking about it, but I do not think that my death is going to happen so soon.’

The day after this press conference, he went to Dehradun for four days. In fact, in January the same year, Pandit Nehru had a heart attack. Since then his health was poor. For this reason, he went to Dehradun on a four-day leave. He reached Delhi at around 8 pm on 26 May. From here he went straight to the Prime Minister’s House. According to the reports, that night he kept changing sides throughout the night. He had pain in his back and shoulders.

At around 6.30 in the morning, he first had a paralytic attack and then a heart attack. After that he became unconscious. After Indira Gandhi’s call, three doctors reached PM House. He tried his best, but Pandit Nehru’s body was not responding. After several hours of trying, doctors declared him brought dead.

The news of Pandit Nehru’s death was given in the radio news of 2 pm. Lakhs of people gathered outside the PM residence as soon as the news of his death spread. It is said that even in that period about 2.5 lakh people had seen his last.

Other important events that happened in history on May 27-

2006: More than 5 thousand people died in the earthquake in Indonesia. Thousands were injured, while more than 5 lakh people were rendered homeless.

1994: Russian-born novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after spending 20 years in exile in America.

On this day in 1948, the trial for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi began. Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948.

1941: During World War II, the German warship Bismarck was sunk by the British Navy.

1933: Walt Disney released the animated short film The Three Little Pigs. Both this cartoon and its song became very famous.

1813: America occupied Fort George, Canada.

1703: Tsar Peter laid the foundation of Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia, on the city of the Neva River. It was recognized as a witness to the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is the second largest city in Russia.