Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak (Hindi for The Folk Hero), was an Indian independence activist and political leader.
Background
He was born of middle-caste Hindu parents in a small village in Bihar on October 11, 1902. He was the fourth child of Harsu Dayal and Phul Rani Devi. His father Harsu Dayal was junior official in the Canal Department of the State government and was often touring the region.
Education
When Narayan was 9 years old, he left his village to enroll in 7th class of the collegiate school at Patna.
In 1922, he went to the United States, where he studied political science and economics at the universities of California, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Career
During his seven years in the United States, Narayan paid his tuition by working as a fruit picker, jam packer, waiter, mechanic and salesman. Narayan became secretary of the Congress party, whose leader was Jawaharlal Nehru, later to become the first independent Indian prime minister. When all other party leaders were arrested, Narayan carried on the campaign against the British; then he, too, was arrested. In 1934, Narayan led other Marxists in the formation of a Socialist group in the Congress party.
During World War II, Narayan became a national hero by leading violent opposition to the British. Embracing the resistance movement led by Mohandas Gandhi, Narayan repudiated its commitment to nonviolence, engineering strikes, train wrecks and riots. He was repeatedly jailed by the British, and his escapes and heroic activities captured the public's imagination.
After India gained independence, violence and Marxism waned in Narayan. He led his socialist group out of the Congress party in 1948 and later merged it with a Gandhian-oriented party to form the People's Socialist party. Narayan was considered Nehru's heir apparent, but in 1954 he renounced party politics to follow the teachings of Vinoba Bhave, an ascetic who called for voluntary redistribution of land.
Late in his life, he regained prominence as an active critic of the increasingly authoritarian policies of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi's daughter. His reform movement called for "partyless democracy, " decentralization of power, village autonomy and a more representative legislature.
Despite ill health, Narayan led student agitators in Bihar in a fight against government corruption, and under his leadership, a People's Front took power in western Gujarat state. Indira Gandhi responded by branding Narayan a reactionary fascist. In 1975, when Gandhi was convicted of corrupt practices, Narayan called for her resignation and a massive movement of pacifist noncooperation with the government. Gandhi declared a national emergency, jailed Narayan and 600 other opposition leaders and imposed censorship of the press. In prison, Narayan's health collapsed. After five months, he was released.
In 1977, thanks largely to Narayan's uniting of opposition forces, Gandhi was defeated in an election. Narayan died at his home in Patna on Oct. 8, 1979, from the effects of diabetes and a heart ailment.
Achievements
Politics
His nationalist and anti-imperialist convictions developed into Marxist beliefs and participation in Communist activities. But Narayan was opposed to policies of the Soviet Union and rejected organized communism upon returning to India in 1929.
He embraced a Gandhian type of revolutionary action in which he sought to change the minds and hearts of people. An advocate of "saintly politics, " he urged Nehru and other leaders to resign and live with the impoverished masses. Narayan never held a formal position in the government, but remained a leading political personality operating outside party politics.
The Janata Party, a vehicle for the broad spectrum of the opposition to Indira Gandhi, was formed under JP's guidance. The Janata Party was voted into power and became the first non-Congress party to form a government at the Centre. On the call of Narayan, many youngsters joined the JP movement.
Connections
In October 1920, Narayan was married to Braj Kishore Prasad's daughter Prabhavati Devi, a freedom fighter in her own right. At the time of marriage, Jayaprakash was 18 years and Prabhavati was 14 years of age, which was a normal age for marriage in that period.