Jayaprakash Narayan was an Indian freedom fighter and political leader of India and was popularly called JP by his friends; Narayan is remembered for organizing the opposition to Indira Gandhi during the 1970s. Jayaprakash Narayan was born on 11th October 1902 in the village of Sitabdiara, Bihar, India. He was the fourth child of Harsu Dayal and Phul Rani Devi and belonged to a Kayastha family. At the age of 9, Narayan he left the village to enrol in 7th class of the collegiate school at Patna. He was a bright and studious student and by 1918 completed school and undertook the ‘State Public Matriculation Examination’ and won a District merit scholarship to Patna College. Being a brilliant student, he went on to complete his BA and MA in politics and sociology from the United States in 1922. There he studied political science, sociology and economics at the Universities of Berkeley, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio State. He was actually bewildered by Marxism during his study at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The ideas and writings of M.N. Roy also similarly dazed him. But owing to financial problems and his mother's health caused him to give up his dreams of securing a PhD.
It was while Narayan was returning to India that he got the chance to meet revolutionaries like Rajani Palme Dutt in London on his way back to India. As such, he joined the Indian National Congress in 1929 upon receiving an invitation from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In the time to come, the great Mahatma Gandhi turned out to be the mentor and guide of Jayaprakash Narayan. He was jailed and tormented by the British forces quite a few times during the war for Independence.
Jayaprakash Narayan played an essential role in the Quit India movement and earned a lot of recognition and respect for this. He married freedom fighter Prabhavati Devi, who was a follower of Kasturba Gandhi. She resided at the Sabarmati Ashram while Jayaprakash Narayan was studying abroad. Though she fostered viewpoints that contradicted JP's, yet her husband always respected her independence. Jayaprakash Narayan met Minoo Masani, Ram Manohar Lohia, Yusuf Desai, Ashok Mehta and other national leaders when he was put behind bars in 1932 because of the civil disobedience movement. After he was released from the jail, the Congress Socialist party was set up. While Acharya Narendra Deva was elected as its President, JP was chosen its general secretary. During the Quit India Movement in 1942, JP was again at the helm of the agitation.
Post independence and death of Gandhiji, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Basawon Singh directed the CSP out of Congress to make the first opposition Socialist Party. This group later on took the title Praja Socialist Party. Basawon Singh became the first leader of the Opposition in the state and assembly of Bihar, while Acharya Narendra Deva became the first leader of opposition in the state and assembly of U.P. On 8 October 1979, three days before his 77th birthday, Narayan died in Patna because of diabetes and heart ailment.
Birth: 11[SUP]th[/SUP] October 1902
Death: 8 October 1979
It was while Narayan was returning to India that he got the chance to meet revolutionaries like Rajani Palme Dutt in London on his way back to India. As such, he joined the Indian National Congress in 1929 upon receiving an invitation from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In the time to come, the great Mahatma Gandhi turned out to be the mentor and guide of Jayaprakash Narayan. He was jailed and tormented by the British forces quite a few times during the war for Independence.
Jayaprakash Narayan played an essential role in the Quit India movement and earned a lot of recognition and respect for this. He married freedom fighter Prabhavati Devi, who was a follower of Kasturba Gandhi. She resided at the Sabarmati Ashram while Jayaprakash Narayan was studying abroad. Though she fostered viewpoints that contradicted JP's, yet her husband always respected her independence. Jayaprakash Narayan met Minoo Masani, Ram Manohar Lohia, Yusuf Desai, Ashok Mehta and other national leaders when he was put behind bars in 1932 because of the civil disobedience movement. After he was released from the jail, the Congress Socialist party was set up. While Acharya Narendra Deva was elected as its President, JP was chosen its general secretary. During the Quit India Movement in 1942, JP was again at the helm of the agitation.
Post independence and death of Gandhiji, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Basawon Singh directed the CSP out of Congress to make the first opposition Socialist Party. This group later on took the title Praja Socialist Party. Basawon Singh became the first leader of the Opposition in the state and assembly of Bihar, while Acharya Narendra Deva became the first leader of opposition in the state and assembly of U.P. On 8 October 1979, three days before his 77th birthday, Narayan died in Patna because of diabetes and heart ailment.
Birth: 11[SUP]th[/SUP] October 1902
Death: 8 October 1979