Deeply impressed and influenced by Gandhi, he joined the Indian Independence movement in the 1920s. Shastri's thoughts were influenced by reading about Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Annie Besant. He worked for the betterment of the Harijans at Muzaffarpur and dropped his caste-derived surname of 'Srivastava'. He studied in East Central Railway Inter college and Harish Chandra High School, which he left to join the non-cooperation movement.

Shastri was born to Sharad Prasad Srivastava and Ramdulari Devi in Mughalsarai on 2 October 1904. He previously served as the sixth home minister of India from 1961 to 1963.

Lal Bahadur Shastri ( pronounced ⓘ born as Lal Bahadur Srivastava 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the second prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966.