Jayaprakash Narayan
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Cover of the book Jayaprakash by Lakshminarayan Lal. |
Jayaprakash Narayan (जयप्रकाश नारायण;
October 11,
1902 -
October 8,
1979), widely known as
JP, was an
Indian freedom fighter and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to
Indira Gandhi in the 1970s.
He was born in Sitabdiara village in
Ballia district of
Uttar Pradesh, and studied for his BA and MA degrees in
politics and
sociology in the
United States. In 1922, he went to the United States, where he studied political science , sociology and economics at the universities of Berkeley, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio State [
1][
2]. He adopted
Marxism while studying at the
University of Wisconsin in
Madison, Wisconsin under
Edward Ross; he was also deeply influenced by the writings of
M. N. Roy. Financial constraints and his mother's health forced him to quit his wish of earning a PhD. He met other revolutionaries like
Rajni Palme Dutt in
London on his way back to India.
After returning to
India, JP joined the
Indian National Congress on the invitation of
Jawaharlal Nehru in 1929;
M. K. Gandhi would be his mentor in the Congress. During the
Indian independence movement, he was arrested, jailed, and tortured several times by the British. He won particular fame during the
Quit India movement.
JP married
Prabhavati Devi, a freedom fighter in her own right and a staunch disciple of
Kasturba Gandhi in October 1920; she stayed in Sabarmati ashram while JP was abroad and became a devoted Gandhian; she often held opinions which were not in agreement with JP's views, but JP respected her independence. She was the older daughter of
Brajkishore Prasad, one of the first Gandhians in
Bihar and one who played a major role in Gandhi's campaign in
Champaran.
After being jailed in 1932 for
civil disobedience against British rule, he was imprisoned in
Nasik Jail, where he met
Ram Manohar Lohia,
Minoo Masani,
Achyut Patwardhan,
Ashok Meta,
Yusuf Desai and other national leaders. After his release, the
Congress Socialist Party, a left-wing group within the Congress, was formed with
Acharya Narendra Deva as President and JP as General secretary.
During the Quit India movement of 1942, when senior Congress leaders were arrested in the early stages, JP, Lohia and
Basawon Singh (Sinha) were at the forefront of the agitations. Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and
Aruna Asaf Ali were described as
"the political children of Gandhi but recent students of Karl Marx." After independence and the death of Mahatma Gandhi; JP, Acharya Narendra Dev and
Basawon Singh (Sinha) led the CSP out of Congress to become the opposition
Socialist Party, which later took the name
Praja Socialist Party.
Basawon Singh (Sinha) became the first leader of opposition in the state and assembly of Bihar and Acharya
Narendra Deva became the first leader of opposition in the state annd assembly of U.P.
Initially a defender of physical force, JP was won over to Gandhi's position on
nonviolence and advocated the use of
satyagrahas to achieve the ideals of democratic socialism. Furthermore, he became deeply disillusioned with the practical experience of socialism in
Nehru's India.
On 19 April 1954, JP announced in
Gaya that he was dedicating his life (Jeevandan) to
Vinoba Bhave's
Sarvodaya movement and its
Bhoodan campaign, which promoted distributing land to
Harijans (
untouchables). He gave up his land, set up an ashram in
Hazaribagh, and worked towards uplifting the village.
In
1957, JP formally broke with the Praja Socialist Party in order to pursue
lokniti [Polity of the people], as opposed to
rajniti [Polity of the state]. By this time, JP had become convinced that
lokniti should be non-partisan in order to build a consensus-based, classless, participatory democracy which he termed
Sarvodaya. JP became an important figure in the India-wide network of Gandhian Sarvodaya workers.
JP returned to the prominence in State politics in the late
1960s. In
1974, he devoted himself to the peasants' struggle known as the
Bihar movement, which demanded the resignation of the provincial government. He founded, together with
V. M. Tarkunde, the
Citizens for democracy in
1974 and the
People's union for civil liberties in
1976, NGOs to uphold and defend civil liberties.
When
Indira Gandhi was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the
Allahabad High Court, JP called for Indira to resign, and advocated a program of social transformation which he termed
Sampoorna kraanthi [Total Revolution]. Instead she proclaimed a national
Emergency on the midnight of
25 June 1975, immediately after JP had called for the PM's resignation and had asked the military and the police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders; JP, opposition leaders, and dissenting members (the 'Young turks') of her own party were arrested on that day.
JP was kept as detenu at Chandigarh even after he had asked for a month's parole for mobilising relief in areas of Bihar gravely affected by flood. His health suddenly deteriorated on
24 October, and he was released on
12 November; diagnosis at Jaslok Hospital, Bombay, revealed kidney failure; he would be on dialysis for the rest of his life.
After Indira revoked the emergency on
18 January 1977 and announced elections, it was under JP's guidance that the
socialist-leaning
Janata Party was formed. Janata Party was voted into power, and became the first non-Congress party to form a government at the Centre.
JP also wrote several books, notably
Reconstruction of Indian Polity. He promoted
Hindu revivalism, but was deeply critical of the form of revivalism promoted by the
Sangh Parivar.
Not long before his death, it was in fact
erroneously announced by the Indian prime minister, causing a brief wave of national mourning, including the suspension of parliament and regular radio broadcasting, and closure of schools and shops.
In
1998, he was posthumously awarded the
Bharat Ratna award in recognition of his social work. Other awards include the
Magsaysay award for Public Service in
1965.
JP is sometimes referred to with the honorific title
Lok nayak (लोक नायक) or 'guide of the people'.
* Bimal Prasad (editor). 1980.
A Revolutionary's Quest: Selected Writings of Jayaprakash Narayan. Oxford University Press,
Delhi.
*
A plea for the reconstruction of Indian polity*
Total revolution*
On Hindu revivalism*
Magsaysay award acceptance speech;
Citation; [ht
*
Biography
