Bihar movement: Meet the political luminaries who fought alongside Jayaprakash Narayan

Socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan was a veteran freedom fighter whom people respectfully called ‘Lok Nayak’ which means people’s hero. Popularly known as JP, Narayan joined politics to help the downtrodden and helpless people and not for power. He was the sole leader of the JP Movement, which took place from 1974 to 1975 and was against Indira Gandhi’s government. Narayan had a successful political career, he worked relentlessly for the poor and underprivileged. Since he was the hero for the poor, he became a symbol of the national conscience in the fight against corruption. To fight against Indira Gandhi’s government, Narayan led the JP Movement from 1974 to 1975 which was initiated by students to fight corruption and misrule. Many stalwarts of the JP Movement have already passed away like George Fernandes, Madhu Limaye, Madhu Dandavate, Ram Krishna Hegde, Chandra Shekhar, and Kishen Patnayak. Some of today’s prominent political personalities were also a part of the JP Movement and played important roles in it. Take a look at a few of them below: Lalu Prasad Yadav: The Chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and former chief minister of Bihar was in the frontline of the JP movement. This movement was against the misrule of the Bihar state government. The revolution, titled Sampoorna Kranti, led by Narayan was a mass movement to bring about a change in the system. During that time, Yadav was the president of the Patna University Students’ Union. He was appointed by JP as the convenor of the Sampoorna Kranti. Additionally, in 1974, Yadav anointed JP with the title of ‘Lok Nayak’ at a students’ meet at Patna University. Sushil Kumar Modi: BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi was an activist in the JP Movement. Arun Jaitley: The seasoned politician and former finance minister of India, who passed away in 2019, was a prominent part of the JP Movement. The movement resulted in the creation of a new breed of young leaders. Jaitley, who was elected the President of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in 1974, organised massive protests and rallied thousands of students against the government alleging corruption. For the first time, Jaitley shared a stage with Narayana on 23 June, 1975 in Delhi when they appealed to the army and police to refuse orders they felt were unconstitutional. Jaitley was also jailed during the Emergency for his pivotal role in the JP Movement. Following this, he went on to become the national convener of the Loktantrik Yuva Morcha.