Friday, 11th February (1968) 2022 marks the 54th death anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyay.
Born on 25 September 1916, Upadhyay was an Indian politician, strong advocate of Hindutva ideology put forward by the Rashrtiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of the now ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
Upadhyay founded the monthly publication Rashtra Dharma, broadly meaning 'National Duty', in the 1940s to spread the ideas of Hindutva nationalism. Upadhyaya is credited for drafting Jan Sangh's official political doctrine, Integral humanism, by including some cultural-nationalism values and selectively appropriating few Gandhian socialist principles like 'sarvodaya' (progress of all) and swadeshi (self-sufficiency).
On his 54th death anniversary, here are some of the quotes that mirror his philosophy on Dharma, India, and principles.
“Strength lies not in unrestrained behavior but in well-regulated action.”
“Dharma is a very wide concept which concerns all aspects of life-sustaining the society.”
“The principles of Ethics are not framed by anyone, these are rather discovered.”
“When nature is channeled according to the principles of Dharma, we have culture & civilization.”
“In India, the Principles of Ethics are termed as Dharma-The Laws of Life.”
“We had taken pride in resisting Things-British while They (Britishers) ruled us, but strangely enough, now that the Britishers have left, Westernisation has become synonymous with Progress.”
“If we stop to analyze the reasons for the problems facing the country, we find that the confusion about our goal and the direction is mainly responsible for this chaos.”
“There is diversity and plurality in life but we have always attempted to discover the unity behind them.”
“Human Knowledge is common property.”
“Unity in diversity and the expressions of unity in various forms has remained the thou Indian Culture.”
