5th September 2021
In ‘The Dream of Revolution’, Bimal Prasad and Sujata Prasad write that when Jayaprakash Narayan went to the US, very few people knew about India and he was asked if he was from Honduras.
Following the Chauri Chaura incident, the non-cooperation movement petered out. Many students who had walked out of government-controlled educational institutions returned to them, but not Jayaprakash. The Vidyapeeth could only provide education up to the intermediate level. Given his hardwired sense of what was right, he was conflicted about studying at a place that received grants from the government. For a few months, he lived and studied science at the residence of a family friend, Phuldeva Sahay, a professor of chemistry at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). But he refused to join the university since it received grants from the government. It was around this time that he met Bhola Pant, a young Garhwali student seeking to study in America. Their friendship deepened, and eventually Jayaprakash was also attracted to the idea of studying there. A lecture delivered by Swami Satyadev Parivrajak on his experience of working his way through college in America was an added inspiration.
Jayaprakash’s decision was, however, a severely discomfiting one for his parents. His mother was especially distraught and he had to work hard to convince her. He received strong support from an unexpected quarter. His wife, Prabhavati, then only sixteen, recognized the potentially transformative aspect of her husband’s decision. She wrote to him saying that she was happy with his decision and hoped that on his return he would devote himself to the national cause. If there were any heartaches, questions and doubts, she kept them to herself.