Jagdeo Prasad

Jagdeo Prasad (2 February 1922 – 5 September 1974) was a politician and political theorist who was known by his followers even while he was living as the Lenin of Bihar.[1]

Early life

Prasad was born at Kurtha in the Jehanabad district of Bihar to Raaskali Devi and Prayag Narain. He belonged to the Kushwaha Maurya caste who are descendants of Chandragupta Maurya and Ashok The Great. They were suppressed later since Ashok gave Patronage to Buddhism. The Maurya or Kushwaha caste later took to agriculture and are mainly agriculturists. The Kushwaha have richly contributed to the struggle for social justice and democracy. His father Prayag Narain was a middle school teacher. Prasad passed matric examination very late at the age of twenty three. However, his father died soon after. It is said that the village Brahmin priest who visited his home blamed him for the untimely death of his father. The Brahmin priest was of the view that Prasad had angered God by not pursuing his caste occupation of cultivating vegetables and taking to study instead.The adolescent Jagdeo grew with rage against casteism.

Career

In the heyday of anti-Congress politics of Ram Manohar Lohia, he preferred Congress to Jansangh. He was the first leader to blend social justice politics with secularism. When Mandal got locked in a war with Kamandal in 1990, the legacy of Jagdeo Prasad got vindicated.

Jagdeo Prasad was called ‘Lenin of Bihar’ even when he was alive.[2][3][4] When he was killed, the BBC aired the news that ‘Bihar Lenin’ had been killed. A local Patna daily newspaper, “Aryawart”, since closed and then owned by a Brahmin big landlord, carried the news that ‘the self-styled Lenin of Bihar killed’.

Those were the stormy initial years of the Naxal movement. Prasad who never claimed himself a Communist openly, branded the Indian communist leaders as belonging to a feudal class. He had conviction in parliamentary democracy, and rejected armed revolution. He radicalized the politics of Bihar so much that the people began calling him ‘Lenin of Bihar’.

References

  1. ↑ "National players eye Delhi's migrant votebank". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Telegraph - Ranchi". telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "NCP leader Nagmani quits party, praises Modi". jagran.com. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Sinha, A. (2011). Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-08459-3. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
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