Deendayal Upadhyaya, known by the epithet Panditji, born on 25 September 1916, in Nagla
Chandraban, Mathura, United Provinces, British India (present day Deendayal
Dham, Uttar Pradesh, India), was an Indian politician, a proponent of integral
humanism ideology and leader of the political party Bharatiya
Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Upadhyaya
started the monthly publication Rashtra Dharma, broadly meaning
'National Duties', in the 1940s to spread the ideals of Hindutva revival. Upadhyaya
is known for drafting Jan Sangh’s official political doctrine, Integral
humanism, by including some cultural-nationalism values and his
agreement with several Gandhian socialist principles such as sarvodaya (progress
of all) and swadeshi (self-sufficiency).
