Born: 11th October 1902
Died: 8th October 1979
Jaya Prakash Narayan, also called Jai Prakash Narain, was born on 11th October 1902, in Sitab Diyara. Narayan was educated in the United States and became a Marxist there. On his return to India (1929), he joined the Indian National Congress (Congress Party). In 1932 he was sentenced to one-year imprisonment for participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement, which was against British rule in India. After his release, he took a major part in the evolution of the Congress Socialist Party, a left-wing group within the Congress Party, and the organization that conduct the campaign for independence. He was again imprisoned in 1939 by the British for his opposition to participate in World War II from the side of Britain, but he managed to escape and tried to organize a violent resistance to the government for a short time before his recapture in 1943. After his release in 1946, he tried to convince the Congress leaders to adopt a more assertive policy against British rule. Narayan, together with most of the Congress Socialists, left the Congress Party in 1948 and formed the Praja Socialist Party in 1952. Narayan became dissatisfied with party politics, and in 1954 he announced that he would rather devote his remaining life only to the Bhoodan Yajna Movement, which demanded that land should be distributed among the landless. His persistent interest in politics, however, was revealed in 1959 when he insisted on a “reconstruction of Indian polity”. Narayan in 1974 suddenly shouted on the Indian political scene as a serious critic of what he saw as the corrupt and undemocratic government of Smt Indira Gandhi (Prime Minister). Although he gained a lot of support from students and opposition politicians, there was no enthusiasm from the masses. Next year a lower court sentenced Indira Gandhi of corrupt election practices, and Narayan called for her resignation. Instead, she declared a national emergency and sent Narayan and other opposition leaders to jail. During their time in prison, his health declined. He was released from jail after five months but never recovered. In 1977 when the Congress party was defeated in elections, taking the opportunity Narayan advised the winning party in its choice of leaders to head the new administration. Narayan died on 8th October 1979, Bihar, due to the consequences of diabetes and heart disorders.
