Jayaprakash Narayan Indian Freedom Fighter Political Leader

Jayaprakash Narayan Indian Freedom Fighter Political Leader

Date of birth: 11^th October, 1902 and Date of death: 8^th October, 1979
Jayaprakash Narayan, widely known as JP, was an Indian freedom fighter and political leader.  He was one of the few leaders of modern Indian who fought for its independence and took part in active politics for a long time after it became independent.  He was born in Sitabdiara, village in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, and did his higher studies including his Ph.D in politics and sociology in the United States.  He adopted Marxism while studying at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin under Edward Ross; he was also deeply influenced by the writings of M.N. Roy.  After returning to India, JP joined the Indian National Congress on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1929; M.K. Gandhi would be his mentor in the Congress.  During the Indian independence movement, he was arrested, jailed, and tortured several times by the British.  He won particular fame during the Quit India Movement.  JP married Prabhavati Devi, a freedom fighter in her own right and a staunch disciple of Kasturba Gandhi in October, 1920; she stayed in Sabarmati ashram while JP was abroad and became a devoted Gandhian; she often held opinions which were not in agreement with JP’s views, but JP respected her independence.  She was the older daughter of Brajkishore Prasad, one of the first Gandhians in Bihar and one who played a major role in Gandhi’s campaign in Champaran.  After being jailed in 1932, for civil disobedience against British rule, he was imprisoned in Nasik Jail, where he met Ram Manohar Lohia, Minoo Masani, Achyut Patwardhan, Ashok Meta, Yesuf Desai and other national leaders.  After his release, the Congress Socialist Party, a left-wing group within the Congress, was formed with Acharya Narendra Deva as President and JP as General Secretary.  During the Quit India movement of 1942, when senior Congress leaders were arrested in the early stages, JP, Lohia and Basawon Singh (Sinha) were at the forefront of the agitations.  Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as “the political children of Gandhi but recent students of Karl Marx”.
JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN:

Date of Birth: October 11, 1902 and Date of death: October 8, 1979
Jayaprakash Narayan was born on October 11, 1902, in Sitabdiara, a village on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. His father Harsudayal was a junior official in the Canal Department of the State government and was often touring the region. Jayaprakash, called Baul affectionately, was left with his grandmother to study in Sitabdiara.
Jayaprakash was married to Prabhavati, daughter of lawyer and nationalist Brij Kishore Prasad in October 1920. Prabhavati was very independent-minded and on Gandhiji’s invitation, went to stay at his ashram while Jayaprakash continued his studies.
While Jayaprakash became a believer of the Communist school of thought, Prabhavati became an ardent Gandhian. He respected Prabhavati’s choice and did not force her to change her views. In 1929, both Jayaprakash and Prabhavati left for the Congress session at Lahore under Jawaharlal Nehru’s presidentship. There Nehru invited Jayaprakash to join the Congress, an offer that Jayaprakash gladly accepted. He began work in the Labour Research Cell of the Congress at Allahabad.
Jayaprakash was arrested for speaking against Indian participation in the Second World War in February 1940 and sent to Deoli detention camp in Rajasthan. Jayaprakash was appalled at the conditions in Deoli. He organized a hunger strike to protest the conditions in 1941. The Government immediately released him. He was again arrested in 1942 for participating in the Quit India movement. In November 1942, Diwali night, Jayaprakash along with five others escaped the prison by scaling a 17 feet high wall while the guards remained distracted by the festivities. A Rs.10,000 reward was offered for Jayaprakash’s capture, dead or alive. Jayaprakash escaped to Nepal and organized a guerilla army called the “Azad Dasta”. Jayaprakash and Ram Manohar Lohia were captured briefly but were rescued by the Azad Dasta members, who set fire to a hut to distract the guards. Both freedom fighters escaped to Bihar. Finally the British closed in on Jayaprakash in Amritsar when he was on his way to Rawalpindi to meet Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan. Jayaprakash was taken to Lahore Fort, notorious as a “Torture chamber” on September 18, 1943. 16 months of mental and physical torture followed. Jayaprakash was put in solitary confinement for the first month. Then came interrogations, physical torture and humiliation. Jayaprakash was released from jail on April 12, 1946.
Jayaprakash returned to a nation he could barely recognize. Talk of partition and riots between Hindu and Muslims dominated the atmosphere. Jayaprakash rushed to Bihar to assist in curbing the riots. He pleaded with the Congress Working Committee not to accept the partition plan.
On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court held the Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, guilty on charges of corrupt practice in her election. Jayaprakash advised her to resign until her name was cleared by the Supreme Court. Instead, she clamped Emergency on June 26. Jayaprakash was arrested and sent to Chandigarh where he was kept prisoner in a hospital. “My world lies in shambles around me,” he cried. As his health worsened, he was moved to a hospital in Bombay.
Finally in January 1977, the Emergency was lifted. Fresh elections were declared. Under Jayaprakash’s guidance several parties united to form the Janata Party. The party incorporated all of Jayaprakash’s goals in its manifesto. Jayaprakash was weak and helpless by that time. He felt his work was done, but he had to sorrowfully witness the collapse of the Janata Party government. Jayaprakash died on October 8, 1979. People hailed him as Loknayak or leader of the people.

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Indian Political Leader

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Indian Political Leader

Date of birth: 25^th September, 19016 and Date of death: 11^th February, 1968
He was an eminent political personality and a profound philosopher.  He was an organiser par excellence and a prominent leader of Jan Sangh who maintained the highest standards of personal integrity.  He has been the source of ideological guidance and moral inspiration for the Bharathiya Janatha Party since its inception.  His treatise on ‘integral humanism’ is a critique of both communism and capitalism, advocating a holistic alternative perspective for political action and statecraft consistent with the laws of creation and the universal needs of the human race.
Panditji passed his intermediate exams with distinction in Pilani and left for Kanpur to pursue his under graduation and joined the Snatan Dharma College.  At the instance of his friend Balwanth Mahashabde, he joined the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1937.  Later he moved for Agra where he joined with Nanaji Deshmukh and Bhau Jugade for RSS activities.  After that he worked full time for RSS and moved to Lakshmipur District of Uttar Pradesh as an organiser of RSS.  He established the publishing house ‘Rastra Dharma Prakashan’ in Lucknow and launched the monthly magazine ‘Rastra Dharma’ to propound the principles he held sacred.  Later, he launched the weekly ‘Panchajanya’ and the daily ‘Swadeshi’.
In 1950, Dr. Shyam Prasad Mukherjee, then Minister at the centre, opposed the Nehru- Liyaqat pact and resigned his Cabinet post and joined the opposition to build a common front of democratic forces.  Panditji organised a political convention in UP in 1951 and founded the state unit of the new party, Bharathya Jana Sangh.  Panditji was moving spirit and Dr. Mukherjee presided over the first All India Convention held on 21^st October, 1951.  In 1968, Panditji assumed the post of president in the Jana Sangh.
On February 11, 1968, panditji boarded the first- class coupe of the Sealdah- Pathankot Express from Lucknow, bound for Patna.  His body was found Lying parallel to the railway tracks outside Mughalserai station in the early hours of the morning.

Vijayalaksmi Pandit Indian Politician

Vijayalaksmi Pandit Indian Politician

Date of birth: 18^th August, 1900 and Date of death: 1^st December, 1990
She was an Indian diplomat and politician.  She was the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru.  In 1921, she married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit.  She was the first women to hold a cabinet post.  In 1937, she was elected to the provisional legislature of the United Provinces and designated minister of local self- government and public health.  She held the latter post until 1939 and again from 1946 to 1947.  Following India’s Independence from British in 1947, she became India’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union.  She then became India’s ambassador to the United Nations.  She was the President of United Nations General Assembly during the year 1953, becoming the first women to hold that position.  She served as Governor of Maharastra from 1962 until 1964.  Pandit was a harsh critic of her niece, Indira Gandhi, after Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966.  Her daughter Nayantara Sahgal is a well- known novelist.

Ram Manohar Lohia Indian Freedom Fighter Political Leader

Ram Manohar Lohia Indian Freedom Fighter Political Leader

 Date of Birth: 23^rd March, 1910 and Date of Death: 12^th October, 1967
Ram Manohar Lahia was an Indian freedom fighter and a socialist political leader.  He was born on 23^rd March, 1910 in a village named Akbarpur in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh, in India.  Ram’s father, Hira Lal, was a nationalist by spirit and a teacher by profession.  His mother, Chanda, died when Ram was very young.  Ram was introduced to the Indian Independence Movement at an early age by his father through the various protest assemblies Hari Lal took his son to.  Ram made his first contribution to the freedom struggle by organising a small hartal on the death of Lokmanya Tialk.  Hari Lal, an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi, took his son along on a meeting with the Mahatma.  This meeting deeply influenced Lohia and sustained him during trying circumstances and helped seed his thoughts, actions and love for swaraj.  Ram was so impressed by Gandhiji’s spiritual power and radiant self-control that the pledged to follow the Mahatma’s footsteps.  He proved his allegiance to Gandhi and more importantly to the movement as a whole, by joining a satyagraha march at the age of ten.  Lohia met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1921.  Over the years they developed a close friendship.  Lohia, however, never hesitated to censure Nehru on his political beliefs and openly expressed disagreement with Nehru on many key issues.
Lohia organised a student protest in 1928 to protest all-white Simon Commission which was to consider the possibility of granting India dominion status without requiring consultation of the Indian people.  Lohia attended the Baaras Hindu University to complete his intermediate course work after standing first in his school’s matric examinations.  In 1929, Lohia completed his B.A. from Calcutta University.  He decided to attend Berlin University, Germany over all prestigious educational institutes in Britain to convey his dim view of British philosophy.  He soon learned German and received financial assistance based on his outstanding academic performance.  While in Europe, Lohia attended the League of Nations assembly in Geneva.  India was represented by the Maharaja of Bikaner, an ally of the British Raj.  Lohia took exception to this and launched a protest there and there from the visitors’ gallery.  He fired several letters to editors of newspapers and magazines to clarify the reasons for his protest.  The whole incident made Lohia a recognized figure in India overnight.  Lohia helped organise the Association of European Indians and became secretary of the club.  The main focus of the organisation was to preserve and expand Indian nationalism outside of India.  Lohia wrote his Ph.D. thesis paper on the topic of Salt Satyagraha, focusing on Gandhiji’s socio-economic theory.  Lohia joined the Indian National Congress as soon as he returned to India.  Lohia wa attracted to socialism and helped lay the foundation of Congress Socialist Party, founded 1934, by writing many impressive articles on the feasibility of a socialist India.  Lohia formed a new branch in the Indian National Congress – the All India Congress Committee (a foreign affairs department).  Nehru appointed Lohia as the first secretary of the committee.  During the two years that he served he helped define what would be India’s foreign policy.  In the onset of the Second World War, Lohia saw an opportunity to collapse the British Raj in India.  He made a series of caustic speeches urging Indians to boycott all government institutions.  He was arrested on 24^th May, 1939, but released by authorities the very next day in fear of a youth uprising.  Soon after his release, Lohia wrote an article called “Satyagraha Now” in Gandhiji’s newspaper, Harijan, on 1^st June, 1940.  Within six days of the publication of the article, he was arrested and sentenced to two years of jail.  During his sentencing the Magistrate said, “He (Lohia) is a top-class scholar, civilized gentleman, has liberal ideology and high moral character”.  In a meeting of Congress Committee Gandhi said, “I cannot sit quiet as long as Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia is in prison.  I do not yet know a person braver and simpler than him.  He never propagated violence.  Whatever he has done has increased his esteem and his honour”.  Lohia was mentally tortured and interrogated by his jailers.  In December, of 1941, all the arrested Congress leaders, including Lohia, were released in a desperate attempt by the government to stabilize India internally.  He vigorously wrote articles to spread the message of toppling the British imperialist governments from countries in Asia and Africa.  He also came up with a hypothetical blueprint for new Indian cities that could self-administer themselves so well that there would not be need for the police or army.  Gandhi and the Indian National Congress launched the Quit India movement in 1942.  Prominent leaders, including Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad, were jailed.  The “secondary cadre” stepped-up to the challenge to continue the struggle and to keep the flame for swaraj burning within the people’s hearts.  Leaders who were still free carried out their operations from underground.  Lohia printed and distributed many posters, pamphlets and bulletins on the theme of “Do or Die” on his secret printing-press.  Lohia, along with freedom fighter Usha Mehta, broadcast messages in Bombay from a secret radio station called Congress Radio for three months before detection, as a measure to give the disarrayed Indian population a sense of hope and spirit in absence of their leaders.  He also edited Inquilab (Revolution), a Congress Party monthly along with Aruna Asaf Ali.  Lohia then went to Calcutta to revive the movement there.  He changed his name to hide from the police who were closing in on him.  Lohia fled to Nepal’s dense jungles evade the British.  There he met the Nepalese people and Koirala brothers (freedom fighters in Nepal), who remained Lohia’s allies for the rest of their lives.  Lohia was captured in May of 1944, in Bombay.  Lohia was taken to a prison in Lahore, notorious throughout India for its tormenting environment.  In the prison he underwent extreme torture.  His health was destroyed but his courage remained.  Even though he was not as fit his courage and will power strengthened through the ordeal.  Under Gandhiji’s pressure the Government released Lohia and his comrade Jayaprakash Narayan.  A huge crowd waited to give the two a hero’s welcome.  Lohia decided to visit a friend in Goa to relax.  Lohia was alarmed to learn that the Portuguese government had censured the people’s freedom of speech and assembly.  He decided to deliver a speech to oppose the policy but was arrested even before he could reach the meeting location.  The Portuguese government relented and allowed the people the right to assemble.  The Goan people weaved Lohia’s tale of unselfish work for Goa in their folk songs.  As India’s tryst with freedom neared, Hindu-Muslim strife increased.  Lohia strongly opposed partitioning India in his speeches and writings.  He appealed to communities in riot torn regions to stay united, ignore the violence surrounding them and stick to Gandhiji’s ideals of non-violence.  Lohia comforted the Mahatma as a nation that once wielded the power of non-violence took refuge in killing their, own brothers and sisters.  Lohia remained beside Gandhiji as son would remain beside a father.  Lohia was a socialist and wanted to united all the socialists in the world to form a potent platform.  He was the General Secretary of Praja Socialist Party.  He established the World Development Council and eventually the World Government to maintain peace in the world.  During his last few years, besides politics, he spent hours talking to thousands of young adults on topics ranging from Indian literature to politics and art.  Lohia died on 12^th October, 1967 in New Delhi.  He left behind no property or bank balance, just prudent contemplations.