Jayaprakash Narayan and Nanaji Deshmukh Jayanti

• 12 Oct 2020

Why in News

Prime Minister of India bowed to Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan and Nanaji Deshmukh, on their Jayanti.

Key Points

• Jayaprakash Narayan (JP):
  
  • Birth: 11^th October, 1902 in Sitabdiara, Bihar.
  • Influenced By: Marxist ideas in the USA and Gandhian ideology.
  • Contribution to Freedom Struggle:
    
    • In 1929, he joined the Indian National Congress.
    • Imprisonment:
      
      • In 1932 imprisoned for a year for participation in the civil disobedience movement.
      • In 1939 for his opposition to Indian participation in World War II on the side of Britain but escaped.
    • He played a key role in the formation of the Congress Socialist Party (1934), a left-wing group within the Congress Party.
  • Post-Independence Role:
    
    • In 1948, he left the Congress Party and initiated an anti-Congress Campaign.
    • In 1952, he formed the Praja Socialist Party (PSP).
    • In 1954, he devoted his life exclusively to the Bhoodan Yajna Movement, of Vinoba Bhave, which demanded land redistribution to the landless.
    • In 1959 he argued for a “reconstruction of Indian polity” by means of a four-tier hierarchy of village, district, state, and union councils (Chaukhamba Raj).
    • Total Revolution: Against Indira Gandhi Regime as she was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the Allahabad High Court. He advocated a program of social transformation which he termed ‘Sampoorna Kranti' (total revolution) in 1974 against corruption in public life.
      
      • Features:
        
        • Total Revolution has seven component revolu­tions, namely- political, social, economic, cultural, ideological or intellectual, educational and spiritual.
        • 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).
  • Bharat Ratna: Jayaprakash Narayan was posthumously conferred with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna (1999), for his "invaluable contribution to the freedom struggle and upliftment of the poor and downtrodden".
• Nanaji Deshmukh:
  
  • Birth: 11^th October 1916 in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district.
  • Influenced by: Lokamanya Tilak and his nationalist ideology.
    
    • Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, founding Sarsangha-chalak(head) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
  • He was a leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
  • Participation: He actively participated in Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan.
    
    • Deshmukh was the main force behind social activist Jayaprakash Narayan's agitation for total revolution.
  • Social Activism: He was a social reformer with focus on health, education and rural self-reliance.
    
    • He established Chitarkoot Gramoday Vishwavidyalaya in Chitrakoot, India’s first rural University and had served as its Chancellor.
    • He did great work towards the anti-poverty and minimum needs programme.
  • Electoral Politics: He was one of main architects of the Janata Party.
    
    • He won in the 1977 Lok election from Balrampur (UP) Lok Sabha constituency.
    • He was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 1999 in recognition of his services to the nation.
  • Death: 27^th February, 2010.
  • Awards:
    
    • He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1999.
    • In 2019, the President of India, conferred the Bharat Ratna upon him (posthumously) for his services to the nation.

Source: PIB