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In News
- The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya on his Punya Tithi.
About Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
- Early Life and Education:
- Born on September 25, 1916, in the sacred region of Brij in the village of Nagla Chandrabhan in Mathura District.
- He lost his parents at an early age and was brought up by his maternal uncle.
- He attended high school in Sikar. Being regarded as a brilliant student, the Maharaja of Sikar gave him a gold medal.
- He passed his Intermediate exams with distinction in Pilani and left for Kanpur to pursue his B.A. and joined the Sanatan Dharma College.
- Philosophy:
- He is extensively admired for the philosophy of Integral Humanism which is the official philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party. It means “a classless, casteless and conflict-free social order”.
- Integral humanism: It talks about the integration of indigenous “Indian culture” with the social, political and economic fabric of the nation.
- It provides for a holistic idea of human welfare.
- It envisions a synthesis of materialism, spiritualism and cautious desire, as each has a role in achieving happiness.
- For India, he visualised a decentralised polity and self-reliant economy with the village being the core basis which thought of India as an independent nation which cannot rely upon western concepts like individualism, democracy, socialism, communism or capitalism.
- Deendayal was of the view that India is in urgent need of a ‘fresh breeze’ to get rid of the post-independence westernisation.
- Deendayal, just like all strong leaders, believed in the concept of Swaraj (Self Governance).
- Political Role:
- He joined RSS in 1937 and came under the influence of Shri Nana ji Deshmukh and Shri Bhau Jugade.
- He convened on September 21, 1951, a political convention of UP and founded the state unit of the new party, Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
- He was the leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh from 1953 to 1968.
- Contributions:
- He launched the weekly ‘Panchjanya’ and the daily ‘Swadesh’.
- He was a creative writer and a renowned editor. He was a journalist in ‘Rashtra Dharma’ daily, worked as an editor for ‘Panchjanya’ and wrote a column named ‘Political Diary’ for the weekly ‘the Organizer’.
- His mantra for journalism was ‘Don’t distort the news’.
- He wrote a number of books including Samrat Chandragupt, Jagatguru Shankaracharya, Political Diary, Integral humanism, Ekatma Manav – vad and an analysis of the Five Year plans in India.
- Death: Pandit Upadhyaya died under mysterious circumstances in February 1968.
- Tribute:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 63-feet tall statue of Pandit Upadhyaya while inaugurating the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre in Padao on the Varanasi-Chandauli border.
- The ‘pancha loha’ statue is the tallest statue of the BJP ideologue in India.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 63-feet tall statue of Pandit Upadhyaya while inaugurating the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre in Padao on the Varanasi-Chandauli border.
- In 2014, the Ministry of Rural Development relaunched its existing skill development programme- Aajeevika Skills- National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). However, they renamed the programme Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- NRLM in 2015.
Source: PIB
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