Jayaprakash Narayan | |
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| Born | Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (1902-10-11)11 October 1902 Sitab Diara,Chhapra district,Bengal Presidency,British India (now inBallia district,Uttar Pradesh,India)[1] |
| Died | 8 October 1979(1979-10-08) (aged 76) Patna, Bihar, India |
| Other names | JP, Jay Prakash Narayan,Lok Nayak |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin (M.A., sociology) Ohio State University (B. A., behavioural science) University of Iowa (CHE, discontinued) U.C. Berkeley (chemistry, discontinued)[2][3] |
| Occupations |
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| Political party | Indian National Congress Janata Party |
| Movement | Quit India,Sarvodaya,JP Movement,Bihar Movement |
| Spouse | Prabhavati Devi |
| Relatives | Brajkishore Prasad (father-in-law) |
| Awards |
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Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (listenⓘ; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known asJP andLok Nayak (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist andindependence activist. He is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi and calling for her overthrow in a "total revolution". In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded theBharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include theRamon Magsaysay Award for public service in 1965.
Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava was born on 11 October 1902[4][5] in the village of Sitab Diara,Chhapra district,Bengal Presidency,British India (present-dayBallia district,Uttar Pradesh, India).[1][a] His house was near the banks of the flood-proneGhaghara river; every time the river swelled, the house would be slightly damaged, eventually forcing the family to move a few kilometres away to a settlement that is now known as Jayaprakash Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.[citation needed]
Narayan came from aKayastha family ofSrivastava clan.[7][5] He was the fourth child of Harsu Dayal and Phul Rani Devi. His father was a junior official in the canal department of the state government and often toured the region. When Narayan was nine years old, he left his village to enrol in the seventh class of the collegiate school at Patna.[8] This was his first break from village life. Narayan stayed at Saraswati Bhawan, a student hostel where most of the boys were older than him and included some of Bihar's future leaders, such as its first chief ministerKrishna Singh, his deputyAnugrah Narayan Sinha and several others who became politicians and academics.[9]
In October 1918, Narayan married lawyer Brajkishore Prasad's elder daughter and independence activistPrabhavati Devi.[10] After their wedding, because Narayan was working inPatna and it was difficult for his wife to stay with him,Mahatma Gandhi invited Prabhavati to become an inmate atSabarmati Ashram (Ahmedabad).[11] Jayaprakash, along with some friends, went to listen to MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad speak about Gandhi'snon-cooperation movement against the passing of theRowlatt Act of 1919. Azad was a brilliant orator and his call to give up English education was "like leaves before a storm: Jayaprakash has swept away and momentarily lifted up to the skies. That brief experience of soaring up with the winds of a great idea left imprints on his inner being".[12] Inspired by Azad's words, Jayaprakash left Bihar National College with just 20 days remaining to his examinations. Jayaprakash joined the Bihar Vidyapeeth, a college founded byRajendra Prasad, and became among the first students of Gandhian Anugraha Narayan Sinha.[citation needed]
After exhausting the courses at the Vidyapeeth, Narayan decided to continue his studies in the United States.[10] At age 20, Jayaprakash sailed aboard the cargo shipJanus while Prabhavati remained at Sabarmati. Jayaprakash reached California on 8 October 1922, and was admitted to theUniversity of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) in January 1923 as a chemistry undergraduate.[13] To pay for his education, Narayan picked grapes, packed fruits at a canning factory, washed dishes, and worked as a garage mechanic. These jobs gave Narayan an insight into the difficulties of the working class.[2][3][14] While at Berkeley, Narayan, then one of 45 students from India, joined the university's Hindustan Club.[15] At the end of the semester, however, his fees doubled and he was forced to transfer toThe University of Iowa, where he continued his studies in applied science and his activities with the Hindustan Association of America, a national association of Indian students studying in the United States.[16][17] Narayan chaired the association's 1923 national convention, which was held at the university at the end of December 1923.[16][18]
In Wisconsin, Narayan was introduced toKarl Marx's bookDas Kapital. News of the success of theBolsheviks in theRussian Civil War made Narayan concludeMarxism was the way to alleviate the suffering of the masses. He studied books by Indian intellectuals and Communist theoreticiansM. N. Roy. Narayan's paper on sociologyCultural Variation[19] was declared the best of the year.[20] Narayan graduated fromUniversity of Wisconsin with a MA in Sociology, and fromOhio State University with a BA in behavioural science.[2][3] While in the United States, he metK. B. Menon, then teaching atHarvard, ultimately persuading him to return to India and join the independence movement there.[21]
Having become a Marxist, Narayan returned from the US to India in late 1929.[22] The same year, he joined theIndian National Congress (INC or Congress) on the invitation ofJawaharlal Nehru;Mahatma Gandhi became Narayan's mentor in the Congress. Narayan shared a house at Kadam Kuan inPatna with his close friend and nationalistGanga Sharan Singh (Sinha)[23] with whom he shared a lasting friendship.[23]
After being jailed in 1930 forcivil disobedience against British rule, Narayan was imprisoned inNasik Jail, where he metRammanohar Lohia,Minoo Masani,Achyut Patwardhan,Asoka Mehta,Basawon Singh, Yusuf Desai, C K Narayanaswami and other national leaders. After his release, theCongress Socialist Party (CSP), a left-wing group within the Congress, was formed withAcharya Narendra Deva as president and Narayan as general secretary.[citation needed]
When Mahatma Gandhi launched theQuit India Movement in August 1942, Narayan, along withYogendra Shukla, Suraj Narayan Singh, Gulab Chand Gupta,Pandit Ramnandan Mishra, Shaligram Singh and Shyam Barthwar, scaled the wall ofLok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Central Jail, Hazaribagh with a goal of starting an underground movement for freedom.[24] Many young socialist leaders like Rammanohar Lohia, Chhotubhai Puranik andAruna Asaf Ali took part in the movement. Because Narayan was ill,Yogendra Shukla walked toGaya with Narayan on his shoulders,[24] a distance of about 124 km (77 mi).[25] Narayan also served as the[26] chairman ofAnugrah Smarak Nidhi (Anugrah Narayan Memorial Fund).
Between 1947 and 1953, Jayaprakash Narayan was President ofAll India Railwaymen's Federation, the largest labour union inIndian Railways.[27]
In the year 1975,Allahabad High Court foundIndira Gandhi guilty of violating electoral laws.[28][29][30][31] Narayan called for Gandhi and the CMs to resign, and the military and police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders.[citation needed] He advocated a program of social transformation, which he termedSampoorna kraanti (total revolution).[citation needed] Immediately afterwards, Gandhi proclaimed a nationalEmergency on the midnight of 25 June 1975.[32] Desai, opposition leaders, and dissenting members of Gandhi's own party were arrested that day.[33]
Jayaprakash Narayan gathered a crowd of 100,000 people atRamlila grounds and recitedRashtrakaviRamdhari Singh 'Dinkar''s poemSinghasan Khaali Karo Ke Janata Aaati Hai.[34]
Narayan was detained atChandigarh; he asked for one month of parole to mobilise relief in flooded parts of Bihar. His health suddenly deteriorated on 24 October 1975, and he was released on 12 November the same year.[citation needed] AtJaslok Hospital, Bombay, Narayan was diagnosed with kidney failure; he would be onkidney dialysis for the rest of his life.[citation needed]
In the UK,Surur Hoda launched "Free JP", a campaign for the release of Jayaprakash Narayan that was chaired by Nobel Peace Prize winnerPhilip Noel-Baker.[35]
On 18 January 1977, Indira Gandhi revoked the emergency and announced elections. TheJanata Party, a vehicle for the broad spectrum of the opposition to Gandhi, was formed under JP's guidance.[citation needed] The Janata Party was voted into power and became the first non-Congress party to form a central government.[36] In the1977 Indian presidential election, Narayan was proposed as President of India byJanata Party leaders but he refused andNeelam Sanjiva Reddy, thenSpeaker of the Lok Sabha, became president.[citation needed]
At the age of 17, Jayaprakash was married toPrabhavati Devi, daughter of lawyer and nationalist Brij Kishore Prasad in October 1919. Prabhavati was very independent and on Gandhi's invitation, went to stay at his ashram while Jayaprakash continued his studies.[37] Prabhavati Devi died on 15 April 1973 after a long battle with cancer.[citation needed]
In March 1979, while he was in the hospital, Narayan's death waserroneously announced by the Indian prime ministerMorarji Desai, causing a wave of national mourning, including the suspension of parliament and regular radio broadcasting, and the closure of schools and shops. When he was told about the mistake a few weeks later, Narayan smiled.[38] Narayan died in Patna, Bihar,[39] on 8 October 1979, three days before his 77th birthday, due to the effects of diabetes and heart disease.[citation needed]
asked him whether Narayan was his surname. He said no and said that he was, in fact,Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava. Jayaprakash Narayan is his name andSrivastava is his surname. Conversations centred on the community ofKayasthas
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