JP, as Jayprakash Narayan was known, was one of the Congress leaders who started a covert operation against the British in August 1942 when all the top Congress leaders were arrested and put behind bars for demanding Quit India. After independence JP became the president of the apex body of railway workers unions. He became an ardent critic of the government for the various lapses in governance. Through the 1950s his role was mostly as a person who would intercede between the government in India and those who protested against the government. He visited Punjab to meet with Master Tara Singh who had been arrested for demanding a Punjabi suba for Sikhs. His requests to the Chief Minister Kairon to release Master Tara Singh went unheeded. After this Jayaprakash Narayan became an even more secluded figure, much revered in Patna but little heard of elsewhere. In the mid-1970s, when the students in Gujarat and Bihar began a vociferous protest against corruption in government, they sought out JP as a mentor. JP once again entered public life in a big way. His impact was felt across the country through his effort to bring about a Total Revolution, a Sampurna Kranti. The Congress government declared a state of emergency in the country and arrested JP along with many others who were critical of the government.
-India history
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