Deendayal Upadhyaya (1916-1968) Commemoration

Deendayal Upadhyaya was born on September 25, 1916, in the village of Dhankia in Rajasthan. He faced significant hardships early in life, losing his father, Bhagwati Prasad, before the age of three and his mother before he was eight. Raised by his maternal uncle, Deendayal excelled in his studies, consistently securing top positions and winning numerous prizes and scholarships. While a student at Sanatan Dharma College in Kanpur, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Although he qualified as a teacher, he chose not to pursue teaching. Instead, in 1942, he dedicated himself to full-time work in the RSS.

Deendayal Upadhyay was known for his idealism and exceptional organizational skills. He founded the monthly magazine “Rashtra Dharma,” the weekly “Panchajanya,” and the daily “Swadesh.” In 1951, when Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Deendayal became the first General Secretary of its Uttar Pradesh branch. He was soon chosen as the All India General Secretary. Dr. Mookerjee was so impressed by Deendayal’s acumen and meticulousness that he famously remarked, “If I had two Deendayals, I could transform the political face of India.”

After Dr. Mookerjee’s death in 1953, the responsibility of nurturing the orphaned organization and building it into a nationwide movement fell on Deendayal’s young shoulders. For 15 years, he served as the party’s General Secretary, constructing it brick by brick. He raised a band of dedicated workers imbued with idealism and provided the entire ideological framework for the party. The historic session of the party in Calicut in 1967 marked the pinnacle of his statesmanship and vision.

Deendayal was a deep and original thinker. His philosophy of Integral Humanism, which synthesizes the material and the spiritual, the individual and the collective, stands as a testament to his intellectual depth. In politics and economics, he was pragmatic and grounded, envisioning a decentralized polity and self-reliant economy with villages as the base. He welcomed modern technology but emphasized its adaptation to suit Indian requirements.

Deendayal believed in a constructive approach, urging his followers to cooperate with the government when it was right and to oppose it fearlessly when it erred, always placing the nation’s interest above all else. Tragically, Deendayal Upadhyaya was found dead in the early hours of February 11, 1968, while traveling by train. His stirring call to the thousands of delegates at the Calicut session still resonates:

“We are pledged to the service not of any particular community or section but of the entire nation. Every countryman is blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh. We shall not rest till we are able to give to every one of them a sense of pride that they are children of Bharatmata. We shall make Mother India sujala, suphala (overflowing with water and laden with fruits) in the real sense of these words. As Dashapraharana Dharini Durga (Goddess Durga with her ten weapons) she would be able to vanquish evil; as Lakshmi she would be able to disburse prosperity all over and as Saraswati she would dispel the gloom of ignorance and spread the radiance of knowledge all around her. With faith in ultimate victory, let us dedicate ourselves to this task.”

The Indian Postal and Telegraph Departments feel privileged to issue a commemorative stamp in honor of this great son of India.