Of JP

The great Jaiprakash Narayan died in October 1979. His great political adversary and former Prime Minister, Indhira Gandhi, wrote to a friend, describing him. I think the description is quite apt. She writes,

Poor old JP! What a confused mind he had leading to such a frustrated life! These twists and turns were because of his Gandhian hypocrisy, and the vow of celebacy extracted from him when he married the Mahatma's disciple Prabhavati. That, and jealousy of my father, probably conditioned the rest of his life.

It is nonsense to say that he did not want office. One part of him did, very much so. He was town between that and the desire to be regarded as a martyr and a saint

In post-independent history, only Indhira could accuse someone of frustration arising from sexual denial (celebacy). Maybe she was even right! But JP's life changed Indian democracy so fundamentally. In many ways, we are still facing the repercussions of the 18 month National emergency that India once faced in 1975.