ABSTRACT
Jayaprakash Narayan’s role in opening the doors of participatory democracy is remarkable. An understanding of his life sketch indicates his democratic ideas and ideologies on a personal front. His role in the reconstruction of the Indian polity is inevitable. The chapter will start with an introduction, followed by a brief biographical sketch of Narayan. Further, it will focus on participatory democracy and political reconstruction. It also focuses on the Gandhian philosophy of sarvodaya and the Kashmir issue of sampurna kranti (total revolution). Further, the chapter will explore Narayan’s standpoint on caste, youth, education, women, and the poverty of the country. The introduction of democratic socialism in the Indian political scenario can be explained as one of his essential contributions in building the bright future of India. His clarion call of swaraj makes an exemplary step for rest of the world. Narayan’s movement for the reconstruction of the economic system is immensely appreciable. The critical lensing of Narayan on Karl Marx provides an idea about the loopholes in Marxist perspectives. Further, his standpoint towards negation of the exploitive and competitive economic system as a capitalist society is exceptional in nature. His encouragement towards the decentralisation and distribution of power is the backbone of democratic India. Narayan’s optimistic idea of a partyless democracy motivated the modern political dynamics in a constructive manner. His clarion call of sampurna kranti to fight the problems of employment, poverty, and caste is perhaps the only hope to deal with the contemporary crisis of Indian society.
