Introduction

• Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and Lok Nayak (“People’s leader”), was an Indian politician, theorist, and independence activist.

• He is most remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling for her overthrow in a “total revolution”.

• In 1999, JP was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service.

• He also received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for public service in 1965.

• Throughout his public life, JP avoided stagnating in a single ideological position, instead adapting to changing political situations at home and abroad.

• JP’s ideological positions were often different, sometimes even contradictory, yet his abiding concern remained the betterment of the lives of common Indians.

• This constant focus on the welfare of the people earned him a prominent place among the socialist thinkers in India.

• The examination of JP’s political ideas emphasizes his evolving approach to political and social issues.

Early Life

• Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava was born on 11 October 1902 in the village of Sitab Diara, Chhapra district, Bengal Presidency, British India (now Ballia district, Uttar Pradesh, India).

• His house was near the flood-prone Ghaghara river, which often caused damage to the house, eventually forcing the family to move to a settlement now known as Jayaprakash Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.

• Narayan belonged to a Kayastha family of the Srivastava clan.

• 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 frequently toured the region.

• At the age of nine, Narayan left his village to enrol in the seventh class of the collegiate school at Patna, marking his first break from village life.

• Narayan stayed at Saraswati Bhawan, a student hostel in Patna, where most of the boys were older than him, including future Bihar leaders such as Krishna Singh (Bihar’s first chief minister), Anugrah Narayan Sinha, and others who became politicians and academics.

• In October 1918, Narayan married Prabhavati Devi, the elder daughter of Braj Kishore Prasad, an independence activist.

• After marriage, Narayan’s wife was invited by Mahatma Gandhi to stay at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad due to difficulties in staying with Narayan in Patna.

• Narayan, along with friends, went to listen to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad speak about Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement against the Rowlatt Act of 1919.

• Azad’s speech inspired Narayan deeply, and he felt a strong emotional connection to the movement, which “swept him away and momentarily lifted him up.”

• Motivated by Azad’s words, Narayan left Bihar National College with only 20 days remaining before his exams.

• Narayan joined Bihar Vidyapeeth, a college founded by Rajendra Prasad, and became one of its first students under Gandhian Anugrah Narayan Sinha.