The experiences bestowed by Him — Part 8 : Oh Lord, Please give rest of my life to JP
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_14_10_2020.php
(The original article appeared in Thuglak magazine was authored by Sri S.Gurumurthy in Tamil)
In 1970s, an incident that changed the course of our nation had happened; it indicated, how a super natural power has been guiding our nation. April 2020 — Then, I was working as an audit manager in my Guru Gowrikanthan’s audit firm. I had gone to Bengaluru, for the sake of Indian express(IE). I was staying in their guest house. In the middle, I was told by IE manager Sankaran Nair that Ramnath Goenka & his friends were arriving there. He was second guessing that they were not planning to stay for a longer period; Otherwise, I would be shifted to a hotel. As they were arriving, I was strolling in a beautiful park, located within the premises.
IE Guest House: JP, Goenka & Others
In two cars, 5–6 people had come. One of them was Goenka. I knew him and it was a one-way ticket. I was able to identify the Jambhavaan in social life JP, Nanaji Deshmukh & Achyut Patwardhan and not sure about the other two. They entered, sat in the bigger hall (next to the corridor) and started conversing. The beautiful bungalow was constructed by English and had large windows, doors. Goenka bought and renovated it. I was 25 years old. I had deep interest in politics and was not aware of any tall leaders, outside of Tamilnadu. I had the desire to listen to their conversations and at the same time, I was afraid of getting caught. I sat in the swing located in the corridor and listened to their conversations.
Discussion about Bihar movement
They were conversing about the students movement against corruption, started in Bihar, in 1973. It started in Bihar and spread out to MP, Gujarat. Due to a shoot-out of 8 students in Aug 1973 at Bhopal, the problem got intensified. Against Gujarat CM Chimanbhai Patel, the popular student movement “Navnirman” exploded. Due to severe police repression, hundreds of people died and thousands got injured. (Feb 1973), the entire opposition submitted their resignation. JP went there, followed by fasting-until-death by Morarji Desai. As per the request of striking group, CM Chimanbhai Patel was dismissed by Indira Gandhi and ordered to conduct election.
Victory in Gujarat added more momentum to the Bihar movement. JP spoke in large rallies conducted by students. There was a shoot-out at Gaya; Like Gujarat, the situation emerged in Bihar too. That was the time, the Bengaluru meet took place. I was able to understand only one thing. Since, his health was not good, JP was worried about the state of the movement, if his health deteriorates further. He was counting his days and was wondering, whether he should spear-head the movement in that state of health. Goenka said , “At vellore, you would be having your prostrate operation, don’t worry about your health”. Then, the person (unknown to me) said to JP, “no one knew Indira better than me. She has spoiled this country. Through Bihar movement, we have to bring an end to her rule”. They continued conversations on those lines. Then Goenka had mentioned, Let us go to Thirumala/Thirupathy and take the darsan of Lord Balaji. He would show the path to us. After an hour, they started to Thirupathy. I was not aware of anything after that.
Give my rest of life to JP
After many years, in 1988, Nanaji was visiting Goenka’s house. We were discussing about JP and then I recounted the old incident. I was curious to know about the 4th member. He is Ramdhari singh, a famous poet in North India. He was awarded the title “Rasthra-kavi” by Nehru. He was a friend of Nehru family and quite close to Indira. Nanaji then asked me, were you aware of the miracle that had happened after that incident. Did Goenka say anything about that? I said no and did not get a chance to discuss with him. Then Nanaji narrated the miracle that had happened.
Three problems were discussed at Bengaluru, said Nanaji. First, JP’s health and the arrangement made at vellore for his treatment. Secondly, Indira was complaining about the conspiracy of the super-rich people in the Bihar movement. Thirdly, analyzed the problem of the movement-against-corruption turning against Indira and its implications. JP was in a dilemma, “Indira is Nehru’s daughter and like my daughter too, how can I run a movement against her?”. Then the reply came from Dinkar. Since Dhinkar was close to Indira, JP listened to him very carefully. Dinkar said , “She is a threat to democracy, thinks that Bihar movement is against her and indirectly encourages corruption to crush the movement. For her own benefit, she is capable of suppression and unleash violence. JP should shun all his hesitations and spear-head the movement”. Then JP worried about his health and the after-math of violence, if unleashed by Indira. Then, as suggested by Goenka, we all went to Thirupathy. Dinakar prayed to Lord Balaji, “ Oh Lord, This country needs JP’s leadership. He should live for many more years. Please pass on my rest of years to him”. He said this loudly, wept and prayed to Lord. We came back to chennai and staying at Goenka’s house. Then, on the Goenka’s lap, Dhinkar breathed his last. We were all speechless, stunned and shaken. JP became very quiet. After hearing this, I (SG) was also shaken.
Prayer that changed JP’s heart
JP had his operation in May. His health started recovering. Due to Dinkar’s prayers, all his self-doubts got cleared and started participating in Bihar movement, wholeheartedly. On 5th June, he gave his famous clarion call for “Total Revolution” at a rally in Bihar. All the parties including left accepted his leadership and became a large-scale movement. To suppress that, Madam Gandhi imposed National Emergency, in 1975. Many national leaders including JP was imprisoned under draconian MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). Subsequently, in 1977 election, including Indira, Sanjay Gandhi, many congress leaders lost the election. Congress lost heavily and the country came out of emergency.
Post-script: I asked Nanaji, why you have not shared this with anyone? He replied that I have jotted down in my diary. After my time, the diary details would be released and then the Truth would be revealed too. Then, I told him that it is not fair, if the Truth does not comes out. After Nanaji’s death, I wrote an article in IE(4th Mar 2010), “Nanaji as I knew him” and mentioned about this incident. Vaguely, I remember about another incident in 1973. I was staying at the house of V.S.Thyagaraja Mudaliar (VST) at Thiruvarur. Then, some one mentioned that JP is going to visit Thiruvarur temple.
On behalf of the temple trust, you should represent us and explain him about the glory of this temple. For two hours, I was blessed to spend time with JP.
To be contd…..
Who is JP
Indeed, it is really unfortunate that we have to explain about JP to this generation. He was one of the stalwarts in 1942 quit India movement. Post independence, after the demise of Sardar Patel, Nehru had requested JP to become Deputy PM. He did not accede to that request and participated in the Sarvodaya movement. After his tenure, Nehru wanted him to become the PM (https://theprint.in/opinion/nehru-wanted-jayaprakash-narayan-as-his-political-successor-not-indira-gandhi/429326/). The man who did not take up any post, was moved by Ramdhari Dinkar’s prayers and participated in Bihar’s movement. Due to that, India-before-emergency vs India-after-emergency emerged and some fundamental changes were effected in the Indian constitution
