Jayprakash Narayan’s 124th birthday fell on October 11. This demands an evaluation of his ideas related to total revolution. JP was a great experimenter throughout his life. Although trained as a science student, he remained a lifelong student of politics, constantly experimenting with ideas, movements, and alternative ways of organising society to make life more meaningful. His political journey was not a linear one; rather, it reflected a continuous search for a more just and humane social order.He joined the Non-Cooperation Movement led by Gandhi in 1921. During a lull in political activity, he went to the United States to pursue higher studies. He spent seven years studying science and political philosophy, emerging as a serious student of political thought. His engagement with political philosophy was not merely academic; it became the intellectual foundation of his subsequent political experiments.After returning to India, he helped build the Congress Socialist Party (CSP), where he articulated his ideas on socialism in a text titled Why Socialism? The work became an important guide for young political workers, including EMS Namboodiripad. During the Quit India Movement of 1942, JP emerged as a heroic figure by mobilising peasants and workers in the struggle against British rule.After independence, his experiment with politics took a new direction. He turned his energies towards building a political alternative to the Congress Party and led the Praja Socialist Party (PSP). Nehru offered him an opportunity to join the government and work towards building a progressive India. However, the negotiations ultimately broke down. JP resigned from the PSP and embarked on another experiment by joining the Bhoodan Movement, which sought to redistribute land to the poor through voluntary donations. He also inspired some of the brightest young intellectuals and scholars to join the Sarvodaya Movement, extending his search for social transformation beyond conventional party politics.After continuing with the Sarvodaya Movement for several years, JP once again turned towards student politics. In doing so, his image as a socialist got tarnished because he welcomed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) into the political movement. RSS had no presence in Bihar politics in those days but grew into a big tree which threatens political democracy today. JP as a socialist created an anathema by welcoming the RSS into the student movement. This final phase of his political life culminated in his articulation of the concept of Total Revolution – an attempt to bring about a comprehensive transformation of society and politics. It represented another stage in his lifelong search for an alternative to the existing structures of power.JP’s final political experiment appears to have acquired renewed relevance in the present political context. His call for political resistance resonates with student movements emerging against the Modi regime. Students across India are taking to the streets to protest against the Election Commission of India (ECI) and what they consider to be the illegal implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. In this sense, JP’s legacy of political experimentation and resistance continues to provide a point of reference for contemporary struggles against established political authority.JP became involved in the student movement in Bihar in 1974. He would sit with the Chhatra Sangharsh Vahini for hours, discussing the steps needed to bring about total revolution. The most important dimensions of total revolution were social harmony, accountability, political decentralisation and economic decentralisation.Today, these concerns have resurfaced in the student movement led by CJP. The students have demanded accountability for paper leaks, which led to a call for action and the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. They have also demanded accountability from Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner, and have launched Jantar Mantar 2.0 to press their demands.JP’s ideas of right to recall of MLA and MP are a part of this demand for accountability. It is relevant today as many political leaders cross the limitation which can be recalled to face another election. The best example is Varvesh Verma, the present PWD minister of Delhi government, who slapped an ordinary citizen who raised a question about the quality of work being done in the capital. This requires punishment under the Right to recall.JP’s concept of total revolution requires new application and thinking by the CJP leaders to lead a mass movement against an authoritarian government.Radhakanta Barik is a retired professor of Indian Institute of Public Administration.