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HT Archive: ‘Loknayak’ – India pays homage to political stalwart
Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, a key figure in India's history, passed away at 76, prompting national mourning and tributes from leaders across the country.
Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, 76, the author of the “total revolution”, is no more. He breathed his last peacefully at his Kadam Kuan residence in central Patna early morning on October 8, 1979. His death has plunged the whole city, nay the whole nation, into grief. All government offices have been closed for two days and a 13-day state mourning has been announced by the Bihar government.
Narayan, who celebrated his 77th birthday on October 1, developed breathing trouble the night before and died of cardiac arrest at about 5.45am, his physician, Dr CP Thakur, said.
After battling death for about three years, Narayan was put on an emergency dialysis at 4.15pm yesterday afternoon as he felt some breathing difficulty. After the dialysis, he went to bed as usual. The first man to know of Narayan’s death was Gulab, his personal attendant, who immediately informed the attending physician, Dr UK Singh.
Speaking in Delhi after receiving the news of the leader’s death, President Sanjiva Reddy said that it was tragic that the country should lose Jayaprakash Narayan at this critical juncture in the nation’s history.
“It is with a heavy heart that I am speaking to you today. This is an occasion too poignant for words. Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan is no more with us to guide and inspire. In every Indian home today there is a sense of personal loss and bereavement. It is as if a close family tie has irrevocably snapped,” the President said in a message broadcast to the nation.
“He was one of the last surviving links with the glorious Gandhian age. Indeed, he was one of its most authentic voices ever pointing to the path of service, sacrifice, simple living and high thinking… It is difficult to visualise the national scene without his soothing presence and sagacious counsel,” the President said.
Calling it his privilege and good fortune to have been associated with Narayan, Reddy said, “May the fragrance of his memory ever abide with us and guide us in the years to come.”
As the news of his death spread in the city, unending streams of mourners started moving towards Kadam Kuan from all parts of the town. The entire area around the Mahila Charkha Samiti looked like a sea of human heads. Finding the crowds getting unmanageable, the authorities decided later to shift the body to the spacious Srikrishna Memorial Hall near Gandhi Maidan.
Among the first callers at Narayan’s residence were chief minister Ram Sundar Das, state Janata Party chief SN Sinha, assembly speaker Tripurari Prasad Singh, JP’s close associate Ganga Sharan Singh, and RVP Sinha.
Among leaders who were the first to arrive were Uttar Pradesh chief minister Banarasi Das, Kashmir chief minister Sheikh Abdullah, Madhya Pradesh CM VK Sakhlecha, West Bengal governor TN Singh, Rajasthan governor Raghukul Tilak, Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi, Janata Dal president Chandra Shekhar, Lok Dal working chairman Raj Narain, Madhu Dandavate and Madhu Limaye.
Former deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram drove straight from Sasaram to Patna to pay his homage to the departed leader.
President Reddy and vice president M Hidayatullah also flew in to the city in the morning and placed wreaths on Narayan’s body, lying in state at the Srikrishna Memorial Hall.
Prime Minister Charan Singh will come by a special plane in time for the funeral.
As long as the body remained in the premises of the Mahila Charkha Samiti, hundreds of thousands of mourning men, women and children filed past it to have the last glimpse of the departed leader.
Prime Minister Charan Singh said that although the Loknayak is no more, the message he has left will always serve “as a beacon reminding us of the higher purposes and dedications”.
“Since the death of Mahatma Gandhi, the mantle of moral and spiritual leadership of the nation had so appropriately fallen on him. This onerous responsibility he was discharging till almost the last moment of his life. The death of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan has stilled the conscience of the nation,” the Prime Minister said.
“The Sun has set, but let us hope no night will follow.”
