NEW DELHI: With the BJP ideologue Pundit Deen Dayal Upadhyay still “miles away from Mahatma Gandhi” in public memory, the party chief Amit Shah is learnt to have decided for extending his centenary celebrations by one more year. The BJP National Council meeting to be held in the national capital next month will commit commemoration of birth centenary of Pundit Upadhyay on much bigger scale with aims to establish him as numero uno political thinker of the country.
The national council meeting of the saffron outfit in Kozhikode last year had kicked off the year long celebrations of the BJP ideologue who had propounded the philosophy of Antyodya (awakening of the last man). “The party chief has reviewed the activities taken up at various level by the BJP units and the Central and state governments to commemorate the birth centenary. It has been felt that much more need to be done to instil Pundit Deen Dayal Upadhyay in the minds of each individual in the country. Therefore, the birth centenary celebrations will continue for one more year, and the national council meeting on September 26 will make the necessary announcements,” said a senior BJP functionary.
Incidentally, the BJP has made it mandatory to use the logo with Pundit Upadhyay embossed in all forms of communication media meant for internal and external consumptions. Additionally, various ministries of the Central government has christened several schemes after Pundit Upadhyay. The BJP ruled states have also been carrying on the directions of the party in popularising Pundit Upadhyay and his philosophy.
“Since the BJP is bracing up for state Assembly elections in a number of states in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, commemoration of birth centenary of Pundit Upadhyay for one more year will fit in well with the publicity blitzkrieg of the party. Besides, the party functionaries will have a pressing reason to connect with people,” added the BJP functionary.
At a time when the BJP has taken upon itself the challenge to root out the Left from its last surviving bastions in Kerala and Tripura, the saffron outfit apparently believes that the ideology of Pundit Upadhyay is more relevant than any of the Communist thinkers. The BJP leaders calim that only Pundit Upadhyay’s ideology of Antyodya, which seeks empowerment of the last man in the socio-economic strata, can ensure development of all in the country.
The BJP office bearers will go in a huddle on September 24 followed by national executive meeting next day. The national council meeting will be on September 25.