Prakash Vir Shastri (30 December 1923 – 23 November 1977) was a Member of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

(Sansad) and was also a leader in the

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

movement.

Career

Shastri was born to Dalipsingh Tyagi on 30 December 1923 in the Rehra village of

Moradabad district Moradabad district () is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city of Moradabad is the district headquarters. Moradabad district is part of Moradabad division. It used to be the second most populous district of Uttar Pradesh out o ...

(now in the

Amroha district Amroha district is one of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Amroha was earlier a part of Moradabad district. On 15 April 1997, it was separated from Moradabad and made a new district. This district was named Jyotiba Phule Nagar, but in 2012 i ...

) of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. He was politically active as a young man, obtaining an M.A. degree from

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university, formerly named as Agra University, was later named after Bhimrao Ambedkar. Affiliated colleges The U ...

, and eventually rising to become Vice-Chancellor of

Gurukul A () is a traditional system of religious education in India with ('students' or 'disciples') living near or with the guru in the same house for a period of time where they learn and get educated by their guruji. Etymology The word is a comb ...

Vrindavan Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj, Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance for Hindus who believe that Krishna, one of ...

. He earned his

Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...

degree from

Sampurnanand Sanskrit University Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya (IAST: ; formerly Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya and Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi) is an Indian university and institution of higher learning located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is one of t ...

. In 1958 Shastri was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

and until his death continued to serve as an Independent member, first in the Lok Sabha and later in the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

. He was elected as a

Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

nominee in 1974.

Oratory style

Shastri opposed the official designation of English as the national language of India. He instead preferred

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Religious activism

Shastri was also internationally recognised as a devotee of the

movement, a branch of Hinduism dedicated to the

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

. Shastri proposed the

Religious Protection Bill The second generation of religious protection of freedom to practice bills in India, proposed by member of parliament Prakash Vir Shastri in 1960. The bill was eventually revoked due to lack of support. The bill had a predecessor, the Indian Co ...

in March 1960 in the Lok Sabha, which called for the protection of religious minorities in the face of mass conversions by force occurring across the country at the time.

Train accident

Shastri was killed in a train accident on 23 November 1977. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Speech compilations

In early 2003, a collection of his parliamentary speeches was compiled for publication, in part by former Deputy Prime Minister

Lal Krishna Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak San ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shastri, Prakash Vir 1923 births 1977 deaths People from Amroha district Arya Samajis Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya alumni Railway accident deaths in India Independent politicians in India