JP gets pride of place in JD(S) advertisement

In a gesture high on symbolism, Jayaprakash Narayan, the man who galvanised India and brought down the Indira Gandhi government after Emergency, has found the pride of place in newspaper advertisements put out by the JD(S) a day before it forms the government in Karnataka.

The full page jacket advertisement by the JD(S) has the image of JP, as Narayan was fondly called, in the middle, while those of party supremo and former prime minister H D Deva Gowda and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi are to his right. The photographs of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati are on the left side of the advertisement.

JP's photograph is being seen as an attempt by the JD (S) to send out signals to the splintered Janata Parivar and other non-NDA parties to come together ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year, like the socialist leader united different political forces against the Indira Gandhi government.

Narayan, initially a Congressman, was a key figure in the Quit India Movement of 1942 when most senior leaders were put in jails.

He later became a socialist before quitting politics and joining Gandhian Vinoba Bhave's 'Bhoodan Movement', a land reform movement under which prosperous landlords were persuaded to give a portion of their land to the landless. He later turned a recluse.

As the student unrest grew in Bihar and Gujarat against the Indira Gandhi government, some young leaders from Bihar, including RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, persuaded Narayan to lead their agitation.

Narayan gave the call for "total revolution" and spearheaded the agitation which led to the defeat of Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls and formation of the first non-Congress government at the Centre in 1977.

Deve Gowda was among young leaders who were imprisoned during Emergency.

The advertisement on the front page of local newspapers invites people from across the country to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Deve Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy at the Vidhana Soudha at 4.40 pm tomorrow.

It has a picture of Kumaraswamy pointing towards the Vidhana Soudha, the state assembly premises and the seat of power in Karnataka.