Hiralal Shastri: Rajasthan’s First Chief Minister

After his young daughter died, a Jaipur civil servant built a school in her memory. He chose a remote village for it. Years later, that same man became Rajasthan’s first Chief Minister.

His name was Hiralal Shastri. His life shows how one grief became a school, and how that school’s founder later helped build a state out of many princely territories.

1Who was Hiralal Shastri?

Hiralal Shastri was born on 24 November 1899 in Jobner. Jobner lay in the old princely state of Jaipur. His family were peasants, not nobles.

He loved learning. In 1920 he passed the Sahitya Shastri degree. That degree gave him the name Shastri. In 1921 he stood first in the B.A. exam at Maharaja’s College, Jaipur.

That same year he joined the Jaipur State Service. He rose fast and became Secretary in the Home and Foreign Departments. People noted his hard work and fearlessness. Yet he quit the post in 1927 to work for the poor.

• Born 24 November 1899 at Jobner, in a peasant family.
• Passed Sahitya Shastri in 1920; topped the B.A. in 1921.
• Joined Jaipur State Service, 1921.
• Resigned in 1927 to take up social work.

2Why did he build Banasthali?

Shastri had long wished to live in a village and serve the poor. In 1929 he chose Banasthali, a remote and backward village near Jaipur. There he set up Jeevan Kutir.

Jeevan Kutir trained a group of social workers. They worked on rural reconstruction, from schooling to village livelihoods. Many of them later helped spread political awakening in the Rajputana states.

Then came the school. On 6 October 1935, Shastri and his wife Ratan Shastri, with help from friends like Durgadutt Harit, founded Banasthali Vidyapith. It honoured Shantabai, his daughter from his first marriage. She had died very young.

Banasthali Vidyapith began as a girls’ school. Today it is a private women’s university in Tonk district, Rajasthan. It offers courses from school level up to postgraduate degrees.

• Jeevan Kutir started in 1929.
• Banasthali Vidyapith founded 6 October 1935.
• Named in memory of his daughter Shantabai.
• Now a women’s university in Tonk district.

3How did he lead the Praja Mandal?

In 1937 Shastri joined the Jaipur Rajya Praja Mandal. The Mandal had begun in 1931. It asked for civil rights and a government that answered to the people.

He was twice elected its General Secretary and twice its President. In 1939 he led its satyagraha for civil liberties. The state jailed him for six months.

Accounts say that in 1942 he signed a Gentleman’s Agreement with Jaipur’s Prime Minister, Mirza Ismail. It paused the Mandal’s agitation. Critics called this soft. Supporters called it patient strategy. Sources differ on how much it gained.

• Joined the Praja Mandal in 1937.
• Led the 1939 satyagraha for civil liberties.
• Served six months in prison.
• The 1942 truce with Mirza Ismail split opinion.

4How did he become Chief Minister?

India won freedom in 1947, and the princely states had to join the new nation. Jaipur had its first representative government on 27 March 1948. Shastri became its Prime Minister.

In 1949 the princely territories of Rajputana were merged into a larger Rajasthan. Shastri became head of this new government in early April. Sources give 30 March or 7 April for his swearing-in. They agree he was the first to lead it.

One source says his title changed to Chief Minister when the Constitution began on 26 January 1950. Another source calls him first Chief Minister from 1949. So the exact date of the title is disputed. He resigned in January 1951.

He came back to national politics later. He was a member of the Second Lok Sabha.

• Prime Minister of Jaipur State from 27 March 1948.
• Led Greater Rajasthan from early April 1949.
• First head of the state; title date varies by source.
• Resigned January 1951; later in the Second Lok Sabha.
• Read about the States Reorganisation Commission.

5What did he say in the Constituent Assembly?

Shastri was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1947. He also became General Secretary of the All India States Peoples Conference that year. This body spoke for people living under princely rule.

On 29 August 1947 he asked for equal voting rights for all members. He argued that members sent by princely states should count the same as elected ones. He worried they would be treated as junior.

His argument shows a steady aim. He wanted people of the princely states to be full citizens in the new nation.

• Elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1947.
• General Secretary, All India States Peoples Conference.
• Argued for equal voting rights on 29 August 1947.
• Read about the Government of India Act 1935.

6What are the exam traps?

Do not mix him up with Lal Bahadur Shastri, who was India’s Prime Minister.

• Hiralal Shastri is the Rajasthan leader; Lal Bahadur Shastri is the national one.
• Banasthali Vidyapith is a memorial to a daughter, founded in 1935.
• Jeevan Kutir came before the Vidyapith, in 1929.
• Order of posts: Jaipur Prime Minister, then Rajasthan’s first head.
• Read about Ravi Shankar Shukla, another first Chief Minister.