Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan

In News

• Recently, the Prime Minister paid tributes to Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan on his Jayanti.

Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan

• About: 
  • He was born on October 11, 1902, in the remote village of Sitabdiara, Bihar.
  • Socialist/ Marxist influence: Jayaprakash Narayan went to the US for education, where he was deeply influenced by Marxist ideology.
    • However, he rejected the ultimate solution of “revolution” to bring down capitalism as being advocated by the Marxists and instead advocated Socialism.

• Contribution to Freedom Struggle:
  • In 1929, he joined the Indian National Congress.
• Imprisonment:
  • In 1932, he was imprisoned for a year, for participation in the civil disobedience movement.
  • In 1939, due to his opposition to Indian participation in World War II on the side of Britain, he managed to escape.
• He played a key role in the formation of the Congress Socialist Party (1934), a left-wing group within the Congress Party.

His role in the Post-Independence Era

• He left the Congress Party in 1948 and initiated an anti-Congress Campaign.
• In 1952- formed the Praja Socialist Party (PSP).
• In 1954- he started the Bhoodan Yajna Movement of Vinoba Bhave, which demanded land redistribution to the landless.
• In 1959, he fought for “reconstruction of Indian polity” by means of a four-tier hierarchy of village, district, state, and union councils (Chaukhamba Raj).
• Total Revolution: He started a program for social transformation named ‘Sampoorna Kranti’ (total revolution) in 1974 against corruption in public life.
  •  This program targeted the Indira Gandhi Regime as she was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the Allahabad High Court.
  • The objective was to bring in a change in the existing society that is in tune with the ideals of the Sarvodaya (Gandhian philosophy- progress for all).

Accreditation 

• He was posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna (1999), for his “invaluable contribution to the freedom struggle and upliftment of the poor and downtrodden”.

Source: PIB