Jayaprakash Narayan: Selected Works: Volume 8 (1960-1966)

Jayaprakash Narayan (1902-79) was one of the most prominent leaders and thinkers that India has produced in modern times. Although he never sought power for himself, he played a major role not only in the struggle for Independence, but also in the Socialist and Sarvodaya movements and finally in the movement for strengthening democracy, popularly known as the J.P. movement. Thos series of volumes has been planned with a view to presenting as comprehensive a picture as possible of the evolution of J.P.’s political life and thought through his writings, speeches and letters. As he was in many ways a mirror of his times, it is hoped that the series will also provides glimpses of the main currents of ideas and movements during the times in which he lived and worked. The present volume covers the period May 1960 to January 1966. Among the contents the most notable is Swaraj for the People published in 1961. Here J.P. stresses the need for strengthening the institutions of Panchayati Raj by endowing them with financial autonomy and real powers of governance in areas within their jurisdictions. Further, J.P. also wants to give them a role in electing members of the Provincial Assemblies and Parliament, a major step, according to him, in moving from a parliamentary to a participatory democracy. The volume also contains numerous speeches, statements and letters to the then Prime Ministers, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri, on various problems facing the country, like Kashmir, Nagaland, controversy on the issue of official language and recurrence of Hindu-Muslim riots. The volume also contains several statements and speeches by J.P. on India-China discord which finally culminated in the Chinese invasion of 1962.