Jayaprakash Narayan 1903-1979

The death of Jayaprakash Narayan—known to his compatriots and throughout the world simply as JP —brings to an end a life that spanned every important event in 50 years of Indian history, ranging from the struggle for independence to the most recent effort to solve the country’s major political, social, and economic problems. This is not the time to evaluate his historical role (I would only suggest now that his major achievement will undoubtedly be his almost single-handed success in bringing to an end the authoritarian regime set up by Indira Gandhi). We now mourn the passing of a good and noble man who was indeed the “conscience of his nation,” much in the sense that Norman Thomas was of his.

Known to millions of people in every corner of India, JP was a complex man who deeply felt the poverty and misery of so many of his compatriots. His inspiration clearly was Gandhi, but he never achieved the balance between “saintliness” and politics so...