Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya

• PM Modi has unveiled a 72-ft statue of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya in New Delhi on his 107^th birth anniversary.
• The statue has been erected on Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg in the national capital.

ABOUT PANDIT DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA

• Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was born in Mathura on 25 September 1916.
• He was a co-founder of BJP’s forerunner, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and a thinker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
• He pioneered the monthly magazine ‘Rashtra Dharma’, a weekly ‘Panchajanya’ and the daily called ‘Swadesh’.
• He became president of the Jana Sangh in December 1967.
• He is known for his principle of “integral humanism” which is defined as “a classless, casteless and conflict-free social order”.
• Upadhyaya is also known for his efforts to uplift the poor and less fortunate, and so his birth anniversary is celebrated on Antyodaya, which means ‘rising of the last’.
  • India celebrates Antyodaya Diwas annually on September 25^th to commemorate the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.