Lalit Narayan Mishra 1976 stamp of India

Lalit Narayan Mishra (2 February 1923 – 3 January 1975) was an Indian politician who served as

Minister of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure. ...

in the government of India from 1973 to 1975. He was brought into politics by the first Chief Minister of Bihar,

Krishna Sinha Shri Krishna Sinha (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was the chief minister of Bihar from the time ...

, when he was made parliamentary secretary at his insistence to the First

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

. In 1975, he died in a bomb blast at Samastipur railway station. The court case was delayed for years and was finally completed in December 2014.

Early life

Lalit Narayan Mishra was born on Basant Panchmi in 1922 at Basanpatti in

Supaul District Supaul district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar, India. The town Supaul is the district's administrative headquarters. The district, which was split from the former Saharsa district on 14 March 1991, occupies . History Supaul, wh ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

in a

Maithil Brahmin Maithil Brahmins are a Hindu Brahmin community from the Mithila region of the Indian subcontinent that comprises Tirhut, Darbhanga, Kosi, Purnia, Munger, Bhagalpur; Bokaro in Jharkhand and Santhal Pargana divisions of India and some adjoi ...

family. He gained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

from

Patna University Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern ...

in 1948. He held nationalists

Sri Krishna Sinha Shri Krishna Sinha (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was the chief minister of Bihar from the tim ...

and

Anugrah Narayan Sinha Anugrah Narayan Sinha (18 June 1887 – 5 July 1957), known as '' Bihar Vibhuti'', was an Indian nationalist statesman, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, who was the first Deputy Chief Minist ...

in high esteem.

Political career

Mishra joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

party and was a member of the first,

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

and

5th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 5th Lok Sabha, ( 15 March 1971 — 18 January 1977) elected February–March 1971.The term of the House was extended two times by one year at a time. However, the House was dissolved after having been in existence for ...

. He was a member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

in 1964 to 1966 then in 1966 to 1972. He was Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Planning, Labour and Employment (1957–60), Deputy Minister for

Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(1964–66), Deputy

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

(1966–67), Minister of State for Defence Production (1967–70). From 1970 till 4 February 1973 he was Minister of Foreign Trade. On 5 February 1973 he was made Cabinet

by then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

. As a Minister of Foreign Trade, he was one of the first to recognize the potential of future

Dr Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

and appointed him as his adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Their first meeting happened coincidentally on an India-US-Chile flight. Mr. Mishra the minister for commerce (then called minister for foreign trade) was on his way to

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, to attend a meeting of UNCTAD.

Assassination

As Minister of Railways, he visited Samastipur on 2 January 1975 to declare the Samastipur-

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth-largest city and municipal corporation in the Indian state of Bihar situated centrally in Mithila region. Darbhanga is the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. It was the seat of the erst ...

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union ( C ...

railway line open. A bomb explosion on the dais seriously injured him. He was rushed to the railway hospital at Danapur, where he died the next day.

Investigation and trial

blamed "foreign elements" for the murder, probably referring to the CIA. His brother

Jagannath Mishra Jagannath Mishra (24 June 1937 – 19 August 2019) was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Bihar and as Minister in the Union Cabinet. He was also Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha between 1988 - 1990 and 1994 - 2000. His invo ...

denied the claim that LN Mishra and

had received bribes from the KGB as alleged in the Mitrokhin Archives; the Congress Party describes the book as "pure sensationalism and vague". On 26 July 2012, the Supreme Court stated that it will go into the causes of delay as even after 33 years, the trial was yet to conclude in the session court. As of July 2013, the 27-year-old man accused of the murder was 65 years old. Of the 39 witnesses he cited to prove his innocence, 31 have died. More than 20 different judges have heard his case over the years, supposedly on a day-by-day basis. After 39 years of trial, on 8 December 2014 four men accused of Mishra's murder were found guilty by a Delhi court. A fifth accused in the case had died. Three

Ananda Marga Ānanda Mārga ("The Path of Bliss", also spelled Anand Marg and Ananda Marg) or officially Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha (organization for the propagation of the path of bliss), is a world-wide socio-spiritual organisation founded in J ...

followers, Santoshanand, Sudevanand and Gopalji, along with advocate Ranjan Dwivedi, were held guilty of murdering Mishra and two others. They were sentenced to life imprisonment by district judge and were fined amounts ranging from Rs 25,000 and Rs 20,000. The court noted that Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, the religious leader of Ananda Marga, was jailed following his accusations in a murder case so his followers murdered Mishra to build pressure on Indira Gandhi government to release Sarkar. Sarkar was later acquitted. The court also noted that the six Ananda Marga followers met at a village in

Bhagalpur district Bhagalpur district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Bhagalpur town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Majority of Bhagalpur district lies in South Bihar. Geography Bhagalpur district occupies an a ...

, Bihar and planned the conspiracy in 1973. In a recent trial, the High Court quashed the verdict of the lower trial court and all the four accused have been acquitted as the evidence provided by C.B.I. could not convince the High Court bench.

Legacy

A university, Lalit Narayan Mithila University, MBA institutes, Lalit Narayan Mishra Institute of Economic Development and Social Change, Patna (LNMI, Patna), L N Mishra Institute of Business Management, Muzaffarpur and a railway hospital in Gorakhpur, UP are named after him. The Government of India issued a postage stamp in his memory.

References

External links

*
University

College of Business
* http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/deptts/mpp/Instructions%20for%20medical.pdf * https://web.archive.org/web/20170120134529/http://ebiharjharkhand.in/mnega-first-time-in-delhi-fine-day/

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mishra, Lalit Narayan 1923 births 1975 deaths 1975 in India 1975 murders in India India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1971–1977 Assassinated Indian politicians Commerce and Industry Ministers of India Crime in Bihar Deaths by explosive device Indian National Congress politicians Lok Sabha members from Bihar People from Bihar People from Saharsa district People murdered in Bihar People murdered in India Railway Ministers of India Rajya Sabha members from Bihar