Mahatma Gandhi ,Jayaprakash Narayan and the dark chapter of Indian democracy

 As a young man, Jayaprakash Narayan was a staunch socialist and disinclined to Gandhiji's ideals of non-violence and Sarvodaya .   But he maintained his friendship with Gandhiji.

Like Gandhiji, JP's had an early marriage. His desire to learn more brought him to America. Before going to America, JP had kept his wife Prabhavati in Gandhiji's ashram. After a harrowing cargo ship journey to America, he had to work in a butcher's shop to raise funds for his studies. After some time he took the job of sorting apples and putting them in baskets. During his studies in America, he was firmly committed to the socialist ideals. But a change took place in his thinking during his return to India. His journey to India was via Britain and Russia. The political situation of the Soviet Union that he had seen and understood firsthand was not the socialism that he had read from books.  It ignited a change in his attitude towards Socialism.  As a result of his visit to Russia and understanding the political conditions there, his disagreement with Gandhi's ideas turned into an interest in Gandhi's ideas.

 

His correspondence with Prabhavati during his American studies convinced him to accept celibacy like Gandhiji.  He accepted celibacy following the path of Prabhavati  . Both of them thought that their celibacy would be good and useful for working for the country's freedom and progress. They did not have children because of celibacy.

 

 During the Quit India Movement of 1942, there were few who worked as zealous as JP. He could be described as a thunder storm or a fire brand. He was a fierce freedom fighter who went to jail and escaped jail several times. JP was also seen by Nehru as the next prime minister after him.

 

But one of the characteristics of JP is that JP neither desired nor even became a panchayat member.  In fact Nehru invited JP to become the Deputy Prime Minister.

 

Gandhiji and JP understood that there will not be any positive change in the country just because they are in power or because they are heading power structures. We got freedom from the British, will this country change just because Rajagopalachari,  Sardar  Patel or  Jawaharlal Nehru replaced Lord Mountbatten?

 

Before August 15, 1947 there was a geographical entity but there was no India, there was no unified country as we see today except for a few princely states like Travancore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kashmir and many areas that were under British rule. This country became a nation after undergoing many hardships.

 

 

There was no field that Gandhi did not touch- be it science or social science , whether it was naturopathy, physics or trigonometry, Gandhiji intervened in everything related to the country and to  all living beings. That is why Gandhi ji worked for removal of untouchabilty, naming the depressed classes  as Harijan and  trying to bring  trusteeship.

 

  Mahatma Gandhi was always a transformational person. He was born in 1869.He grew up as a typical villager. When he went to England, he tried to become a foreigner, learned to use a knife and fork, tried to learn dance, and intervened in the life of coolies in South Africa. Thus, like some epiphytes that draw oxygen from the atmosphere, he learned the feelings of the people, their needs and desires and designed the ways of production and distribution accordingly.

 

 

I am only a trustee of my property and I cannot claim ownership on what I possess. I have to pass it on to someone else tomorrow. I have only the right to use and execute this as a trustee properly. There is no ownership in it. It is only that I can withhold   the possession as a trustee.   That was the idea of trusteeship. Gandhiji introduced this up-to-date magnet of trusteeship.

To be continued....