The Dream of Revolution: A Biography of Jayaprakash Narayan

2021 | English | B09BRDRH1X | EPUB | 245 pages | 3.3 MB

Few figures in modern India have enjoyed such acclaim and adoration as Jayaprakash Narayan. And yet, he has been equally vilified for all that went wrong in the unfinished post-colonial movement for freedom and cracy. Jayaprakash Narayan, or JP as he was universally known, epitomized the Marxian and Gandhian styles of political engagement, and famously brought a powerful government to its knees. Throughout his life, he channelled an emotional hunger for transformative politics, jettisoned easy options, shunned power and incubated revolutionary ideas.

A comprehensive study of JP's life and ideas-from the radicalism of his thought process at American university campuses in the 1920s to his political coming of age in the 1930s and subsequent disenchantment with Gandhi's leadership; from his infectious confidence about the future of socialism to his seemingly naive plans to outmanoeuvre powerful forces within the Congress; from his fractious friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru to his relentless crusade against the stifling of dissent-The Dream of Revolution, Bimal and Sujata Prasad's rigorously researched biography of JP, dispenses with clichés, questions commonly held perceptions and pushes the limits of what a biographical portrait is capable of.