1. Deendayal Upadhyaya, known by the epithet Panditji, was an Indian politician, a proponent of integral humanism ideology and leader of the political party Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party.
20 Facts About Deendayal Upadhyaya
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Deendayal Upadhyaya's father, Bhagwati Prasad Upadhyaya, was an astrologer and his mother, Rampyari Upadhyaya, was a homemaker and observant Hindu.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya took a BA degree at the Sanatan Dharma College, Kanpur.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya did not take up his MA exams due to some family and financial issues.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya became known as Panditji for appearing in the civil services examination, wearing the traditional Indian dhoti-kurta and cap.
6.
Deendayal Upadhyaya had come into contact with the RSS through a classmate, Baluji Mahashabde, while studying at Sanatan Dharma College in 1937.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya met the founder of the RSS, K B Hedgewar, who engaged with him in an intellectual discussion at one of the shakhas.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya started full-time work in the RSS from 1942.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya had attended the 40-day summer vacation RSS camp at Nagpur where he underwent training in Sangh Education.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya worked as the pracharak for the Lakhimpur district and, from 1955, as the joint Prant Pracharak for Uttar Pradesh.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya was regarded as an ideal swayamsevak of the RSS essentially because 'his discourse reflected the pure thought-current of the Sangh'.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya started the monthly Rashtra Dharma publication from Lucknow in the 1940s, using it to spread Hindutva ideology.
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In 1951, when Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the BJS, Deendayal Upadhyaya was seconded to the party by the RSS, tasked with moulding it into a genuine member of the Sangh Parivar.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya was appointed as General Secretary of its Uttar Pradesh branch, and later the all-India general secretary.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya contested by-poll for the Lok Sabha seat of Jaunpur from Uttar Pradesh in 1963 bi election when Jansangh MP Bramh Jeet Singh died, but failed to attract significant political traction and did not get elected.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya became president of the Jana Sangh in December 1967 in the Calicut session of the party.
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In December 1967, Deendayal Upadhyaya was elected president of the BJS.
18.
On 10 February 1968, Deendayal Upadhyaya boarded a late-night train from Lucknow to Patna, which made several stops along the way.
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Deendayal Upadhyaya was confirmed to have been seen alive at Jaunpur, shortly after midnight.
20.
The Central Bureau of Investigation investigation team determined that Deendayal Upadhyaya had been pushed out of the coach by robbers just before the train entered Mughalsarai station.