Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan on his 117th birth anniversary and termed him a source of inspiration for all Indians.

About

• Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) whose name means, “Victory to the light” was born in the early hours of October 11, 1902 in the remote Bihar village of Sitabdiara.
• Narayan was educated at universities in the United States, where he became a Marxist.
• Upon his return to India in 1929, he joined the Indian National Congress (Congress Party).
• In 1932 he was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for his participation in the civil disobedience movement against British rule in India.
  
  
• Upon release he took a leading part in the formation of the Congress Socialist Party, a left-wing group within the Congress Party, the organization that led the campaign for Indian independence.
• He was imprisoned by the British again in 1939 for his opposition to Indian participation in World War II on the side of Britain, but he subsequently made a dramatic escape and for a short time tried to organize violent resistance to the government before his recapture in 1943.
• After his release in 1946 he tried to persuade the Congress leaders to adopt a more militant policy against British rule.
• In 1948 he, together with most of the Congress Socialists, left the Congress Party and in 1952 formed the Praja Socialist Party.
• Soon becoming dissatisfied with party politics, he announced in 1954 that he would thenceforth devote his life exclusively to the Bhoodan Yajna Movement, founded by Vinoba Bhave, which demanded that land be distributed among the landless.
• His continuing interest in political problems, however, was revealed when in 1959 he argued for a “reconstruction of Indian polity” by means of a four-tier hierarchy of village, district, state, and union councils.
• When Indira Gandhi was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the Allahabad High Court. JP Narayan called for Indira and the CMs to resign and the military and police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders. He advocated a program of social transformation which he termed ‘Sampoorna Kranti' (total revolution) in 1974 against corruption in public life.
• Total revolution:
  • Total Revolution is a combination of seven revolu­tions, viz., political, social, economic, cultural, ideological or intellectual, educational and spiritual.
  • The main motive was to bring in a change in the existing society that is in tune with the ideals of the Sarvodaya.
• Jayaprakash Narayan was posthumously conferred with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, for his "invaluable contribution to the freedom struggle and upliftment of the poor and downtrodden".