<p>Among those radicals associated with the Left Wing of the Congress Party during the decades prior to independence, there was probably no one who could rival Ram Manohar Lohia in genius and originality of thought.</p>

<p>Lohia was a truly novel thinker, a fierce polemist and a ruthless critic. His ideas on power, inequality, freedom and the role of the state drew upon and contended with those of contemporary figures like Jayaprakash Narayan, Jawaharlal Nehru and Ashoka Mehta, as well as upon the thought of Marx and Gandhi, but were always tinged by his own personal views and highly critical intelligence.</p>

<p>Following the transfer of power, Lohia arose as the most important and visible figure in the ranks of the new Socialist Party. Along with many socialists around the world during the 1950s and 60s, Lohia identified socialism with the possibility of a radical transformation of society and, through it, the coming of a new civilisation. He developed an open-ended conception of socialism based on an impetuous vernacular and anti-elitist stance regarding political power and the role and management of the state.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>Lohia openly attacked the elitism of the Nehruvian statist project of modernisation, as well as the potentially violent programme of communists in India</h5>
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<p>In his view, socialism could not mean a mere revival of cottage industries and a return to the village. Indeed, he described the latter as spaces of arbitrary power, embodied in the trinity formed by &ldquo;vested interests, the police and village goondas.&rdquo; At the same time, however, he refused to adhere to a teleological version of Marxism, a doctrine he denounced as Eurocentric and unable to account for the link between capitalist accumulation and colonialism. Moreover, he openly attacked the elitism of the Nehruvian statist project of modernisation, as well as the potentially violent programme of communists in India.</p>

<p>During the 1950s and early 60s, Lohia emerged as the most vocal representative of anti-Congressism and a virulent critic of what he termed &ldquo;the Nehru myth.&rdquo; In his view, the revolutionary potential of the freedom movement was being arrested by the project of modernisation defended by the elites of independent India, in which &ldquo;criminal luxury and waste were concealed under the deceptive slogans of national dignity and needs of representation.&rdquo; He extended his sharp criticism of the prime minister to the &ldquo;leadership of sterile Marxists&rdquo; in other recently decolonised countries, a group in which he included Nehru&acute;s fellow champions of Non-Alignment during the late 1950s, Nkrumah and Sukarno.</p>

<p>Lohia denounced Nehru as the leader and main promoter of this harmful project, and consequently directed some of his most virulent attacks against the figure of the prime minister. This strategy, coupled with a similar dismissive and aggressive approach towards communists, would contribute to Lohia&acute;s gradual political marginalisation during the first two decades of independent life in India</p>

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<h5>More than any other socialist leader of his time, Lohia&nbsp;reflected upon issues of caste, gender, language diversity and vernacular knowledge</h5>
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<p>More than any other socialist leader of his time, Lohia&nbsp;reflected upon issues of caste, gender, language diversity and vernacular knowledge in the course of his intellectual development. His rise to prominence as a party leader coincided with a period of intense debate around the issue of caste-based reservations. Even before the appearance of the First Report of the Backward Classes Commission, written in 1953 and published in 1955, Lohia has advanced his interest in involving members of the lower castes in the ranks and leadership of the Socialist Party, and had begun his active campaign for the application of preferential opportunities for the backward sections of society.&nbsp;</p>

<p>During the second half of the 1950s, Lohia made significant efforts to contact the leaders of the most important anti-caste movements, as well as major leaders of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. Between 1955 and 1956, he maintained a correspondence with B. R. Ambedkar, inviting him to attend the 1955 Conference of the Socialist Party, and, in 1957, the Lohia-led SP merged with the Indian National Backward Classes Federation. Moreover, Lohia extended Ambedkar&acute;s demands and advocated for extending the scope of the Backward Classes label to include other sections of the population, notably depressed Muslims, Adivasis and women.</p>

<p>His focus on the specificities and concrete needs of Indian society, however, did not prevent him from taking into consideration the contingencies of the international arena and devising a plan for a global parliament. His open-ended vision of socialism was shaped by an awareness of international events, as well as by the deeply felt need to go beyond Eurocentrism and promote indigenous and independent models of socio-political development.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>Lohia was a fierce critic, a combative thinker, and a tireless organiser</h5>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Lohia was a fierce critic, a combative thinker, and a tireless organiser. The boldness and potency of his intellectual project, however, was contrasted by the dismal political failure of his politics in electoral terms. During the 1950s and early 60s, he presided over the SP, the Praja Socialist Party and the Samyukta Socialist Party, all of which remained unable to challenge the potency of the Congress or the communists in electoral terms until his death in 1967.</p>

<p>Despite the fact that it did not materialise in any significant institutional gains, Lohia&acute;s political project made a crucial contribution to the emergence of original conceptions of socialism that were wholly unrelated to anything known elsewhere by that name. It also opened up a space for political trajectories that are still being played out in the horizon of contemporary Indian politics.</p>

<p>But perhaps the greatest legacy of his politics can be found in his constant effort to question established dogmas and re-think the seemingly obvious. Despite the fact that it entailed his marginalisation from the mainstream of national politics, Lohia was never one to compromise. He spoke of the importance of fighting the entrenched injustices of Indian society in a time of nationalist triumphalism. He defended the role of the state in a time of growing Gandhian anti-statism.</p>

<p>Further, he dreamt of an alternative economic system based on the creation of &ldquo;small machines&rdquo; in an epoch infatuated with the prospect of big-scale industrialisation. In a time, such as ours, in which there seems to be an increasingly narrow window for dissent and rational thought in global politics, Lohia&acute;s fiery adherence to debate and critical thought is a legacy to be cherished and taken seriously once more.</p>


Lohia spoke of the importance of fighting entrenched injustices of Indian society in a time of nationalist triumphalism

Among those radicals associated with the Left Wing of the Congress Party during the decades prior to independence, there was probably no one who could rival Ram Manohar Lohia in genius and originality of thought. Lohia was a truly novel thinker, a fierce polemist and a ruthless critic. His ideas on power, inequality, freedom and the role of the state drew upon and contended with those of contemporary figures like Jayaprakash Narayan, Jawaharlal Nehru and Ashoka Mehta, as well as upon the thought of Marx and Gandhi, but were always tinged by his own personal views and highly critical intelligence. Following the transfer of power, Lohia arose as the most important and visible figure in the ranks of the new Socialist Party. Along with many socialists around the world during the 1950s and 60s, Lohia identified socialism with the possibility of a radical transformation of society and, through it, the coming of a new civilisation. He developed an open-ended conception of socialism based on an impetuous vernacular and anti-elitist stance regarding political power and the role and management of the state. Lohia openly attacked the elitism of the Nehruvian statist project of modernisation, as well as the potentially violent programme of communists in India × In his view, socialism could not mean a mere revival of cottage industries and a return to the village. Indeed, he described the latter as spaces of arbitrary power, embodied in the trinity formed by “vested interests, the police and village goondas.” At the same time, however, he refused to adhere to a teleological version of Marxism, a doctrine he denounced as Eurocentric and unable to account for the link between capitalist accumulation and colonialism. Moreover, he openly attacked the elitism of the Nehruvian statist project of modernisation, as well as the potentially violent programme of communists in India. During the 1950s and early 60s, Lohia emerged as the most vocal representative of anti-Congressism and a virulent critic of what he termed “the Nehru myth.” In his view, the revolutionary potential of the freedom movement was being arrested by the project of modernisation defended by the elites of independent India, in which “criminal luxury and waste were concealed under the deceptive slogans of national dignity and needs of representation.” He extended his sharp criticism of the prime minister to the “leadership of sterile Marxists” in other recently decolonised countries, a group in which he included Nehru´s fellow champions of Non-Alignment during the late 1950s, Nkrumah and Sukarno. Lohia denounced Nehru as the leader and main promoter of this harmful project, and consequently directed some of his most virulent attacks against the figure of the prime minister. This strategy, coupled with a similar dismissive and aggressive approach towards communists, would contribute to Lohia´s gradual political marginalisation during the first two decades of independent life in India More than any other socialist leader of his time, Lohia reflected upon issues of caste, gender, language diversity and vernacular knowledge × More than any other socialist leader of his time, Lohia reflected upon issues of caste, gender, language diversity and vernacular knowledge in the course of his intellectual development. His rise to prominence as a party leader coincided with a period of intense debate around the issue of caste-based reservations. Even before the appearance of the First Report of the Backward Classes Commission, written in 1953 and published in 1955, Lohia has advanced his interest in involving members of the lower castes in the ranks and leadership of the Socialist Party, and had begun his active campaign for the application of preferential opportunities for the backward sections of society. During the second half of the 1950s, Lohia made significant efforts to contact the leaders of the most important anti-caste movements, as well as major leaders of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. Between 1955 and 1956, he maintained a correspondence with B. R. Ambedkar, inviting him to attend the 1955 Conference of the Socialist Party, and, in 1957, the Lohia-led SP merged with the Indian National Backward Classes Federation. Moreover, Lohia extended Ambedkar´s demands and advocated for extending the scope of the Backward Classes label to include other sections of the population, notably depressed Muslims, Adivasis and women. His focus on the specificities and concrete needs of Indian society, however, did not prevent him from taking into consideration the contingencies of the international arena and devising a plan for a global parliament. His open-ended vision of socialism was shaped by an awareness of international events, as well as by the deeply felt need to go beyond Eurocentrism and promote indigenous and independent models of socio-political development. Lohia was a fierce critic, a combative thinker, and a tireless organiser × Lohia was a fierce critic, a combative thinker, and a tireless organiser. The boldness and potency of his intellectual project, however, was contrasted by the dismal political failure of his politics in electoral terms. During the 1950s and early 60s, he presided over the SP, the Praja Socialist Party and the Samyukta Socialist Party, all of which remained unable to challenge the potency of the Congress or the communists in electoral terms until his death in 1967. Despite the fact that it did not materialise in any significant institutional gains, Lohia´s political project made a crucial contribution to the emergence of original conceptions of socialism that were wholly unrelated to anything known elsewhere by that name. It also opened up a space for political trajectories that are still being played out in the horizon of contemporary Indian politics. But perhaps the greatest legacy of his politics can be found in his constant effort to question established dogmas and re-think the seemingly obvious. Despite the fact that it entailed his marginalisation from the mainstream of national politics, Lohia was never one to compromise. He spoke of the importance of fighting the entrenched injustices of Indian society in a time of nationalist triumphalism. He defended the role of the state in a time of growing Gandhian anti-statism. Further, he dreamt of an alternative economic system based on the creation of “small machines” in an epoch infatuated with the prospect of big-scale industrialisation. In a time, such as ours, in which there seems to be an increasingly narrow window for dissent and rational thought in global politics, Lohia´s fiery adherence to debate and critical thought is a legacy to be cherished and taken seriously once more.

Ram Manohar Lohia: The fiery critic of Nehru

<p>Most popular recollections of Jayaprakash (JP) Narayan&#39;s career are framed by the remembrance of his role as moral leader of the widespread unrest that shook North India between 1974 and 1975. These were years marked by the crisis of the political system in India, the collapse of important ideals and structures, as well as the birth of movements and political trajectories central to the history of contemporary India. Seen through the optic of the dramatic events that led to the declaration of Emergency (1975-77) in India, two contrasting and polarised images of JP emerge. One in which he appears as a populist leader, fueling the impulse of anti-Congress feelings who is, however, co-opted by the opportunist logic of the disparate groups that integrated the Janata Coalition as well as fixated on deposing Indira Gandhi. And the second image is marked by the selfless idealism of his devotion and the wooly enthusiasm of his programme of Total Revolution.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>But who was JP really? What was his project? How can we think of him today beyond the iconoclasm and radicalism of his later days?&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>To begin to address these questions, we should start by noting that the events of 1974-75 meant for him the culmination of a long career of opposition and protest, marked by an open embrace of ambiguity and contradiction.</p>

<p>Born in 1902, Jayaprakash grew up during the unfolding of the swadeshi movement and came to age with the Non-Cooperation satyagraha, at a time of significant radicalisation of anticolonial activity in British India. As a young man, he defended Marxist orthodoxy and sought to radicalise the Indian National Congress through the promotion of the goal of socialism. During the 1930s and 40s, he harshly criticised Gandhi as reactionary and wielded a fiery leftist rhetoric. &#39;Revolution&#39;, he proclaimed in 1946, &#39;is my religion.&#39; He acted as leader and inspiration to a group of leftist radicals, including Rammanohar Lohia and Madhu Limaye, and served as a bridge between these younger figures and the older stalwarts of the Congress.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In later decades, however, he came to embrace Gandhi&acute;s position on moral practice, voluntarism and self-sacrifice. To the surprise, and annoyance, of his old comrades, during the 1950s he drew away from raj-niti or power politics and concentrated for years on programmes of village uplift and the promotion of Vinoba Bhave&acute;s Bhoodan movement. This political swerve also entailed a transformation of his personal demeanour that startled contemporary observers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The British journalist Hallam Tennyson would describe JP&#39;s metamorphosis as follows:&nbsp;&#39;He walks slowly, moves his hand in deliberate, hieratic gestures, talks as quietly as Vinoba himself and has ironed all trace of passion from his fine, strong face which is dominated now (&hellip;) by the grave, grey eyes.&#39;</p>

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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Little remained of JP&#39;s&nbsp;former image as a fiery orator and an instigator to revolutionary action.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 1957, he acknowledged that &#39;to the outsider&#39; the past course of his life could appear &#39;as a zigag (sic.) and tortuous chart of unsteadiness and blind groping.&#39; This apparent lack of coherence caused important rifts between him and old friends, notably Nehru and Rammanohar Lohia, and led to his marginalisation from leftist and socialist circles, which had been his natural political habitat since the 1930s. However, despite acknowledging the &#39;groping&#39; of his ideological and political path, he assured that &#39;it (had) certainly not (been) blind&#39;, but rather guided by &#39;a uniform line of development&#39;.</p>

<p>Despite giving up on his former party and institutional affiliations in the 1950s, JP never sought to abandon politics. Indeed, he thought it impossible to do so. In a letter to Nehru written in 1957, JP explained: &#39;&nbsp;When I say that I am not in politics I mean that I am not in competitive politics or party politics or power politics. But politics as such is all pervasive and no one in modern society can be out of politics even if he wished to be so.&#39;</p>

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<h5>When I say that I am not in politics I mean that I am not in competitive politics or party politics or power politics. But politics as such is all pervasive and no one in modern society can be out of politics even if he wished to be so.&#39;</h5>
</blockquote>
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<p>In that same letter, JP&nbsp;made it clear that for him politics was constitutive of social life, and could not be escaped: &#39;(e)ducation is politics, health is politics and trade and commerce are politics. The very food we eat is politics.&#39;</p>

<p>Beyond its varied guises, JP&acute;s wider project was focused on the regeneration of politics as a way of fostering the regeneration of social life. He saw himself as a continuator of the moral legacy of figures like Aurobindo and Gandhi, as well as a promoter of a true revolution. His was an ambiguous and open-ended project. It brought together languages and attitudes now identified as anti-political; it preceded the claims for social autonomy, economic decentralisation and popular power hoisted by social movements and NGOs since the late 1970s; finally, it also came together, in discursive and practical terms, with the programme of cultural and constructive work advanced by important sectors of the Jana Sangh for decades.</p>

<p>For all these reasons, JP remains an unclassifiable figure. He was not dogmatic, despite having a fundamentally moral perception of politics; he was deeply concerned with ideas, despite overly rejecting ideological rigidity; he was bent on revolution, despite appearing at times to be deeply conservative; he was undeniably political, despite forcefully dismissing power politics.&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>His contradictory and fruitful legacy is probably best defined in terms of a devotion to protest. From this angle, his investment in ideologically disparate projects&mdash;ranging from political parties to NGO workers and Sarvodaya volunteers&mdash;and currents of thought&mdash;ranging from orthodox Marxism to Hindu nationalism&mdash;does not necessarily speak of the inconsistency of his thought, but could instead be seen as a sign of his energy and flexibility.&nbsp;</p>
</blockquote>

<p>JP was a contradictory and baffling thinker, a tireless agitator, and a full-time politician. Today, almost half a century since his death in 1979, he remains an inescapable point of reference for the contemporary history of politics in India. It is time to move beyond the polarising memory of JP&acute;s leadership in the 1970s. We now have the opportunity to start thinking seriously, and critically, about the ways in which his life-long political engagement helped to frame and inaugurate political trajectories&mdash;both statist and anti-statist, on the left and on the right&mdash;still being played out in the arena of Indian politics today.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The world remembers Jayaprakash Narayan for his devotion to protest. JP, as he was fondly known as, was born on October 11, 1902

Most popular recollections of Jayaprakash (JP) Narayan's career are framed by the remembrance of his role as moral leader of the widespread unrest that shook North India between 1974 and 1975. These were years marked by the crisis of the political system in India, the collapse of important ideals and structures, as well as the birth of movements and political trajectories central to the history of contemporary India. Seen through the optic of the dramatic events that led to the declaration of Emergency (1975-77) in India, two contrasting and polarised images of JP emerge. One in which he appears as a populist leader, fueling the impulse of anti-Congress feelings who is, however, co-opted by the opportunist logic of the disparate groups that integrated the Janata Coalition as well as fixated on deposing Indira Gandhi. And the second image is marked by the selfless idealism of his devotion and the wooly enthusiasm of his programme of Total Revolution. But who was JP really? What was his project? How can we think of him today beyond the iconoclasm and radicalism of his later days? To begin to address these questions, we should start by noting that the events of 1974-75 meant for him the culmination of a long career of opposition and protest, marked by an open embrace of ambiguity and contradiction. Born in 1902, Jayaprakash grew up during the unfolding of the swadeshi movement and came to age with the Non-Cooperation satyagraha, at a time of significant radicalisation of anticolonial activity in British India. As a young man, he defended Marxist orthodoxy and sought to radicalise the Indian National Congress through the promotion of the goal of socialism. During the 1930s and 40s, he harshly criticised Gandhi as reactionary and wielded a fiery leftist rhetoric. 'Revolution', he proclaimed in 1946, 'is my religion.' He acted as leader and inspiration to a group of leftist radicals, including Rammanohar Lohia and Madhu Limaye, and served as a bridge between these younger figures and the older stalwarts of the Congress. In later decades, however, he came to embrace Gandhi´s position on moral practice, voluntarism and self-sacrifice. To the surprise, and annoyance, of his old comrades, during the 1950s he drew away from raj-niti or power politics and concentrated for years on programmes of village uplift and the promotion of Vinoba Bhave´s Bhoodan movement. This political swerve also entailed a transformation of his personal demeanour that startled contemporary observers. The British journalist Hallam Tennyson would describe JP's metamorphosis as follows: 'He walks slowly, moves his hand in deliberate, hieratic gestures, talks as quietly as Vinoba himself and has ironed all trace of passion from his fine, strong face which is dominated now (…) by the grave, grey eyes.' 'He walks slowly, moves his hand in deliberate, hieratic gestures, talks as quietly as Vinoba himself and has ironed all trace of passion from his fine, strong face which is dominated now (…) by the grave, grey eyes.' × Little remained of JP's former image as a fiery orator and an instigator to revolutionary action. In 1957, he acknowledged that 'to the outsider' the past course of his life could appear 'as a zigag (sic.) and tortuous chart of unsteadiness and blind groping.' This apparent lack of coherence caused important rifts between him and old friends, notably Nehru and Rammanohar Lohia, and led to his marginalisation from leftist and socialist circles, which had been his natural political habitat since the 1930s. However, despite acknowledging the 'groping' of his ideological and political path, he assured that 'it (had) certainly not (been) blind', but rather guided by 'a uniform line of development'. Despite giving up on his former party and institutional affiliations in the 1950s, JP never sought to abandon politics. Indeed, he thought it impossible to do so. In a letter to Nehru written in 1957, JP explained: ' When I say that I am not in politics I mean that I am not in competitive politics or party politics or power politics. But politics as such is all pervasive and no one in modern society can be out of politics even if he wished to be so.' When I say that I am not in politics I mean that I am not in competitive politics or party politics or power politics. But politics as such is all pervasive and no one in modern society can be out of politics even if he wished to be so.' × In that same letter, JP made it clear that for him politics was constitutive of social life, and could not be escaped: '(e)ducation is politics, health is politics and trade and commerce are politics. The very food we eat is politics.' Beyond its varied guises, JP´s wider project was focused on the regeneration of politics as a way of fostering the regeneration of social life. He saw himself as a continuator of the moral legacy of figures like Aurobindo and Gandhi, as well as a promoter of a true revolution. His was an ambiguous and open-ended project. It brought together languages and attitudes now identified as anti-political; it preceded the claims for social autonomy, economic decentralisation and popular power hoisted by social movements and NGOs since the late 1970s; finally, it also came together, in discursive and practical terms, with the programme of cultural and constructive work advanced by important sectors of the Jana Sangh for decades. For all these reasons, JP remains an unclassifiable figure. He was not dogmatic, despite having a fundamentally moral perception of politics; he was deeply concerned with ideas, despite overly rejecting ideological rigidity; he was bent on revolution, despite appearing at times to be deeply conservative; he was undeniably political, despite forcefully dismissing power politics. His contradictory and fruitful legacy is probably best defined in terms of a devotion to protest. From this angle, his investment in ideologically disparate projects—ranging from political parties to NGO workers and Sarvodaya volunteers—and currents of thought—ranging from orthodox Marxism to Hindu nationalism—does not necessarily speak of the inconsistency of his thought, but could instead be seen as a sign of his energy and flexibility. JP was a contradictory and baffling thinker, a tireless agitator, and a full-time politician. Today, almost half a century since his death in 1979, he remains an inescapable point of reference for the contemporary history of politics in India. It is time to move beyond the polarising memory of JP´s leadership in the 1970s. We now have the opportunity to start thinking seriously, and critically, about the ways in which his life-long political engagement helped to frame and inaugurate political trajectories—both statist and anti-statist, on the left and on the right—still being played out in the arena of Indian politics today.

Jayaprakash Narayan: Looking back at JP's contradictory and fruitful political legacy

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Zee News Rajasthan

Editor

Daniel Kent Carrasco

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