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
