Early Life

• Jayprakash Narayan was born on 11 October 1902 in the village of Sitabdiara, in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, India.

  

• He was the fourth child of Harsu Dayal and Phul Rani Devi. His father Harsu Dayal was a junior official in the Canal Department of the State government and was often touring the region.
• When Jayprakash Narayan was 9 years old, he left his village to enroll in 7th class of the collegiate school at Patna. This was his first break from village life. JP stayed at a student hostel—Saraswati Bhawan—in which most of the boys were a bit older.
• Later in October 1920, his parents married 18 year old Narayan to 14 year old Prabhavati Devi. At those times this was the normal marriageable ages.
• Jayaprakash, along with some friends, went to listen to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad speak about the Non-co-operation movement launched by Gandhi against the passing of the Rowlatt Act of 1919. He took the Maulana’s words to heart and left Patna College with just 20 days remaining for his examinations.

Education

• Jayprakash Narayan joined the Bihar Vidyapeeth, a college founded by Dr. Rajendra Prasad and became among the first students of Gandhian Dr. Anugraha Narayan Sinha.
• At age 20, Jayaprakash sailed aboard the cargo ship Janus while Prabhavati remained at Sabarmati. Jayprakash Narayan reached California on 8 October 1922 and was admitted to Berkeley in January 1923.
• To pay for his education, Jayprakash Narayan picked grapes, set them out to dry, packed fruits at a canning factory, washed dishes, worked as a mechanic at a garage and at a slaughter house, sold lotions and taught.
• All these jobs gave Jayprakash Narayan an insight into the difficulties of the working class. He pursued his favourite subject, sociology, and received much help from Professor Edward Ross.
• In Wisconsin, Jayaprakash was introduced to Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. News of the success of the Russian revolution of 1917 made Jayaprakash conclude that Marxism was the way to alleviate the suffering of the masses.
• He delved into books by Indian intellectual and Communist theoretician M. N. Roy. His paper on sociology, “Social Variation”, was declared the best of the year.
• Soon after Narayan returned from the US to India in late 1929 as a Marxist. He joined the Indian National Congress on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1929; Mahatma Gandhi became his mentor in the Congress.

Jayprakash Narayan Political Activism

• Soon, British Govenment imprisoned Jayprakash Narayan in Nasik Jail for participating in civil disobedience movement against British rule. After his release, Narayan along with the Acharya Narendra Deva formed Congress Socialist Party.
• When Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement in August 1942,  Jayaprakash Narayan scaled the wall of Hazaribagh Central Jail along with with a goal to start an underground movement for freedom. He won particular fame during the Quit India movement.
• Between 1947 and 1953, Jayaprakash Narayan was President of All India Railwaymen’s Federation, the largest labour union in the Indian Railways.
• Jayprakash Narayan returned to prominence in State politics in the late 1960s. 1974 ushered in a year of high inflation, unemployment and lack of supplies and essential commodities.

Movement Against Indira Gandhi

• In 1974, he led the students’ movement in the state of Bihar which gradually developed into a popular people’s movement known as the Bihar Movement.

  

• Later, Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty of violating electoral laws. Narayan called for Indira and the CMs to resign and the military and police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders.
• Indira Gandhi proclaimed a national Emergency on the midnight of 25 June 1975. Police arrested Narayan as he was leader of the opposition leaders.
• His health suddenly deteriorated on 24 October 1975. Police released him from jail on 12 November. The doctor of   Jaslok Hospital, Bombay, diagnosed him with kidney failure. He would be on dialysis for the rest of his life.
• Soon after Indira Gandhi revoked the emergency on 18 January 1977 and announced elections. Under the Narayan guidance a new opposition Janata Party was formed.
• The Janata Party was voted into power and became the first non-Congress party to form a government at the Centre. On the call of Narayan, many youngsters joined the JP movement.
• In March 1979, Indian prime minister Morarji Desai erroneously announced death of Narayan, causing a grief wave of national mourning. When people told Narayan about the gaffe a few weeks later, he smiled.
• Narayan died in Patna, Bihar, on 8 October 1979, three days before his 77th birthday, due to effects of diabetes and heart ailments.