GUWAHATI: Assam health, finance and education minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma paid rich tribute to Deendayal Upadhyaya on his 104th birth anniversary. Dr. Sarma attended a programme organised by 15 no. Dharapur booth and 82 no. Azara booth under BJP Rani mandal to mark the occasion. Assam BJP organising secretary Phanindranath Sharma also attended the event and recalled the ideals and contributions of Deendayal Upadhyaya to the nation.
Deendayal Upadhyaya was born on September 25, 1916 in a village near the Farah town in Mathura district. Upadhyaya’s childhood was replete with struggles. His father passed away when he wasn’t even three and lost his mother before eight years of age. Upadhyaya also lost his younger brother at a young age.
Upadhyaya, during his college days, met the founder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Keshav BaliramHedgewar. He also attended the 40-day summer vacation RSS camp at Nagpur. After completing his second-year training in the RSS Education Wing, he became a lifelong pracharak of the Sangh.
He took a plunge into active politics through RSS and took over as the general secretary of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, which was founded by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in 1951. He went on to become the president of the party.
The veteran leader also donned the hat of a journalist. He created buzz in 1940s when he started the publication of Rashtradharm from Lucknow. It was aimed at propagating the ideology of nationalism. Later, he also started writing a column in the Organiser. The column would publish with the name Political Diary. Upadhyaya was also behind starting the weekly Panchjanya and the daily Swadesh.
