The name of Karpoori Thakur is very famous in the politics of Bihar. The name of Karpoori Thakur is taken with great respect by all sections of the society. Karpoori Thakur is also addressed as Jannayak. Karpoori Thakur was the Chief Minister of Bihar twice between 1970-79 and later also the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly.
Karpoori Thakur was born on January 24, 1924 in Pitonjhia village (now Karpoori village) in Samastipur district of Bihar. Gokul Thakur and Ramdulari Devi were his parents. He was born in the barber community. He passed the matriculation examination from Patna University in the year 1940 in second division. Karpoori Thakur jumped into the freedom movement since his childhood. He left his graduate college to join the Quit India Movement.
Karpoori Thakur played an important role in the freedom movement. He was highly influenced by freedom fighters, especially Gandhiji and Satyanarayan Sinha. He joined the All India Students Federation as a student activist. He left his graduate college to participate in the Quit India Movement, due to which he spent 26 months in jail.
He worked as a teacher in his village after independence. In the year 1952, he became a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly for the first time from Tajpur constituency as a candidate of Socialist Party. It is said that his politics was dedicated to the common people, especially the backward people and Dalits. An example of this can be seen in the incident of 1970. In fact, in the year 1970, he fasted unto death for 28 days to promote the cause of telco workers. Due to becoming the voice of backward classes, Dalits and deprived sections, Karpoori Thakur came to be known as 'Jananayak'. Even before this, he was arrested for leading P&T employees during the general strike of Central Government employees in the year 1960. His slogan was – “Ninety out of a hundred are exploited, the exploited have challenged. “Ninety shares in wealth, land and kingdom are ours.”
Indian politicians often remain in the headlines due to their corruption. Every day the names of politicians keep cropping up in scams worth crores of rupees. The state of Bihar has been infamous due to corruption. But, in the same Bihar there were leaders like Karpoori. You can still hear many stories of his honesty in Bihar.
It is said that when Karpoori Thakur became the CM, one day his brother-in-law approached him for a job recommendation. When he came to know about this, he took out some money from his pocket and gave it to his brother-in-law and advised him to buy a razor from the market and start his old/ancestral profession. After becoming the CM, he wrote a letter to his son advising him not to be influenced by the fact that his father has become the Chief Minister. He wrote that he should not get trapped in anyone's greed and greed. This will bring dishonor to his father. Karpoori Thakur remained MLA continuously since 1952, but he did not even build a house for himself.
Karpoori Thakur died of a heart attack on 17 February 1988 at the age of 64. Karpoori Thakur, popularly known as Jannayak, was posthumously honored with Bharat Ratna by Narendra Modi's BJP government on his birth anniversary (January 24).