Library at native village chronicles life of Jayaprakash Narayan

Sitab Diara: A library dedicated to Jayaprakash Narayan at his birthplace in Bihar's Saran district is a repository of the socialist icon's life and times.

The Jayaprakash Narayan Smriti Bhawan and Library at Sitab Diara village showcases photographs related to JP's days during the freedom movement, his works during the Emergency and his addresses at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

It contains books on his struggle against the Emergency, protests against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, and exchange of some letters with Mahatma Gandhi.

"This library reminds us of the days of Emergency through which socialist leaders, including JP, had to pass through," Awadh Bihari Singh, a resident of Patna, told PTI after visiting the library.

"For me, this library is a treasure as I had attended JP's Patna rally in June 1974," Singh said.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated the library last Friday through video conferencing. A district official said the library needed more books on JP, whose 120th birth anniversary is on Tuesday.

"We're quite hopeful that it will have sufficient books and photographs related to JP by the end of this month," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Several other interesting books are also available in the library regarding the then 40-year old JP's successful escape from the Hazaribagh central jail in 1942, and his protests against the Rowlatt Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Visitors can get detailed information about his days in universities in California, his call for total revolution in the 1970s and his belief in Marxism, according to the official.

There are books that contain details about JP's association with social reformer Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement. The biography, 'Jayaprakash', written by his friend and noted Hindi writer Rambriksh Benipuri, is also available in the library.

Surendra Rai, a resident of Bhojpur district who visited the library, said photographs of JP that had been displayed were really good.

"Those who believe in JP's ideologies, must visit this library."