Jayaprakash Narayan

Jayaprakash Narayan (11 October 1902 to 8 October 1979), known as JP and as Lok Nayak, "the people's leader", was an Indian socialist and Sarvodaya leader. Wikipedia says he is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition to Indira Gandhi and calling for "total revolution", and that he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1965 and, after his death, the Bharat Ratna in 1999. He enters Panthic history three times: as a go-between for Master Tara Singh in the Punjabi Suba struggle, as the national leader the Akalis backed against the Emergency, and as a name in the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.

Key moments

• Winter 1960 to 4 January 1961: Gurmit Singh writes that Principal Niranjan Singh, Master Tara Singh's younger brother, and Dr Gopal Singh asked him to act as mediator in the Punjabi Suba struggle. He met Master Tara Singh in Dharamsala jail and then Nehru, and in Gurmit Singh's account Master Tara Singh was released on 4 January 1961 as a result of his intercession (vol. I, p. 137).
• On 1 September 1961, during Master Tara Singh's fast, he met him but failed to persuade him to end it. After the meeting Master Tara Singh issued a statement that implied he would accept C. Rajagopalachari, Ajoy Ghosh and Asoka Mehta as arbitrators on Punjabi Suba. The fast ended on 1 October 1961 (vol. I, p. 145).
• June 1975: SikhRI writes that the Opposition held a rally in Delhi under his leadership at which he openly asked the police to defy government orders, and that the Emergency was declared on 25 June 1975.
• July 1975 to 1977: the Akali Dal ran its Save Democracy Morcha from 7 July 1975. SikhRI writes that anti-Emergency leaders such as Jaya Prakash Narayan, George Fernandes and Chandra Shekhar noticed the Akalis and remained Akali sympathisers.
• 28 and 29 October 1978: the text of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, moved by Gurcharan Singh Tohra at the 18th All India Akali Conference at Ludhiana on 28 and 29 October 1978, cites "the concept of total revolution given by Lok Naik Sh. Jaya Prakash Narain" as also based on the progressive decentralisation of powers (Khushwant Singh, vol. 2, p. 478).
• 1980: Khushwant Singh writes that Indira Gandhi dismissed Parkash Singh Badal's government in 1980 with "scores to settle with the Akalis because they had backed Jayaprakash Narayan" (vol. 2, p. 344).

What he is remembered for: in this history, as a mediator who carried messages between Master Tara Singh and Nehru in 1960 and 1961 without winning a Punjabi Suba, and as the national leader whom the Akalis backed in 1975, a support that Khushwant Singh says Indira Gandhi held against them in 1980.