Publisher's Synopsis
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. This series of volumes has been planned with a view to presenting as comprehensive a picture as possible of the evolution of JP'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 provide glimpses of the main currents of ideas and movements during the times in which he lived and worked. "The present volume covers the period from April 1954 to April 1960 and includes some of JP's basic writings. Among these, special mention may be made of From Socialism to Sarvodaya (1957), which he wrote in the form of a letter to the members of the Praja Socialist Party, summing up the evolution of his political thinking till then and explaining the factors which had led him to decide upon completely giving up his involvement in party and power politics, without, of course, giving up his interest in political developments in the country. Equally important is his treatise on Indian polity published, for private circulation in 1959, under the title A Plea for Reconstruction of Indian Polity. Readers may also be interested in going through his correspondence with his important contemporaries and his utterances on some of the major controversial issues of the day, included in this volume, like, for instance, the Soviet action in Hungary in 1956 and Chinese action in Tibet in 1959, on which he strongly differed from Nehru's policies. Published in association with Nehru Memorial Museum & Library.
