Lalit Narayan Mishra

Lalit Narayan Mishra was railway minister of India from 1973 to 1975 who died in 1975 in a bomb blast. The probe in his death still remains unresolved.

Early life

He was born in January 1923 at Basupatti in Saharsa District of Bihar. He did his MA in economics from Patna University in 1948.

Political career

Mishra joined Indian National Congress party and was a member of the first and second Lok Sabha. He held various posts in the party and government. He was Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Planning, Labour and Employment (1957-60), Deputy Minister for Home affairs (1964-66), Deputy Finance Minister (1966-67), Minister of State for Defence Production (1967-70). From 1970 till February 4 1973 he was Minister of Foreign Trade.On 5 February 1973 he was made Cabinet Minister of Railways by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Death

As Minister of Railways, he visited Samastipur on 2 January 1975 to declare open Samastipur-Muzaffarpur broad gauge railway line. A bomb explosion on the dais seriously injured him. He was rushed to the railway hospital at Danapur where he died on 3 January 1975.A university in Bihar was named after him. The Government of India issued a postage stamp in his memory. His younger brother Jagannath Mishra later became chief minister of Bihar.

Probe into murder

The murder case in still being heard in the courts. His brother Jaganath Mishra had said that there was a larger conspiracy to the murder than meets the eye. [http://www.indianexpress.com/india-news/full_story.php?content_id=78340]

The Archive

He was a close confidant of Indira Gandhi and key fund raiser for the party.

External links

* [http://www.dayafterindia.com/nov205/cover_story.html]