Special article on Deendayalji’s punyatithi

...So that coming generations don't say,
“I hate India”
By P. Kumar

The present generation seems unaware of the greatness of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. When his name is mentioned to them it thinks he must be one among the thousands of the present political leaders of recent times. Some even go to the extent of asking: If Deendayalji were alive, what miracle would he have done?

It is our sacred duty to hound out an institution that we raised ourselves if it starts functioning against the interests of the nation. It is the nation, not an institution, that is supreme.

It is not their fault. These people have neither known Pandit Deendayalji nor are they aware of his ideology and philosophy of life and politics. It is true that after all Panditji was just one person, but not an ordinary being. He was a person much above and away from the ordinary lot of politicians. Just one sentence is suffice to make people appreciate him: he was not for politics but for what is nationalism in politics, what is in the interest of the nation and he functioned as the ambassador of culture in politics. If Deendayalji were alive today, the very nature and direction of politics would, perhaps, have been much different. True, a lone soldier cannot win a war, yet, at the same time, equally true is that a single young sanyasi in the person of Swami Vivekananda was able to shake off the whole world in the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago (USA). Even after more than a century, Swami Vivekananda stands tall and firm as ever.

Once Dr. Shyam Bahadur Verma put a question: “Deendayalji, the way Congress has got corrupt after being in power, do you think Jana Sangh will not go the same way once it attained power?” It is true, replied Panditji, that power corrupts in the normal course. But we will take precautions and even after all this if corruption creeps in Jana Sangh, we will consign it to the Ganges and give birth to a new Jana Sangh, and, if necessary, a third Jana Sangh. The process will go on. Lord Parshuram had decimated ruling dynasties 21 times till ultimately Lord Rama took birth as the ideal ruler. After Ramrajya was ushered in, Lord Parshuram took to the jungles for meditation. Why should we continue to be so enamoured of the institutions we create? It is our sacred duty to hound out an institution that we raised ourselves if it starts functioning against the interests of the nation. It is the nation, not an institution, that is supreme.

Politics was not a profession for Deendayalji.If it were, he would, perhaps, not have said what he did in reply to Shri Verma’s query. He was a visionary. Even while being in politics, he believed in continuing to be a human being. He never digressed from the qualities that characterise a human being. He always gave weight to humanism. While in politics he always kept his own personal life in the background. He only wanted to work and work for the party and the nation. He never wanted to claim credit for any achievement. Working from the backstage, he thought, was healthier for the society and the organisation.

A saint is a great heritage of any society. Panditji was one. He did not believe in words; he believed in action. He led a life of the great Bhagirath who brought the holy Ganges for the welfare of the nation. He preferred to face defeat in elections but did not indulge in the mean, opportunistic politics of seeking votes in the name of caste. In the mad race for cornering gains for self in present day politics where self-control is getting out of control, where coordination is getting extinct, where personal ambitions are sapping the zeal for struggle and the spirit for service is getting drowned in corruption, it is farcical to speak of principles and morality.

How did, then, Deendayalji still remain an idol worth worshipping all the while? A study of his literature and life highlights the fact that he remained throughout devoted to the service of the nation. His own self did not mean anything to him in his commitment to the party and the nation. He could make a distinction between a foundation and a peak. He had thrown himself at the feet of Bharatmata and the nation. He was the chain in the tradition of sacrifice. He nurtured concern for the common man in his heart and wanted to translate his words into action for the welfare of humanity. He did not believe in the culture of “use and throw”. He was even a friend of his detractors.

Before propounding his theory of integral humanism, he had studied in depth and detail the Indian culture, Indian philosophy, Vedas, Puranas and Upnishadas. It was then that he said, “Struggle should be the very nature of man”. We need to inculcate the spirit to live for others. We can then preach others to love each other. Otherwise, if feelings of love and cooperation do arise also, these will only be inspired by our weakness before our enemy and fear of defeat. It will not be lasting but only momentary. As a result, the qualities of sympathy, renunciation, service, goodwill, benevolence etc. may get generated but these cannot be part of human life.

The world subsists not on the foundation of struggle but on the spirit of cooperation. We are by nature progressive and we have to accept this principle of life. The spirit of struggle and non-cooperation should give way to the spirit of helping each other, being complementary to each other, and cooperation in the life and conduct of our karyakartas.

We cannot draw any conclusion by taking into consideration only one aspect of human life. We have to consider human life in its totality. That is why we say that the development of human being means, at the same time, the development of his body, brain, mind and soul. It is generally propagated that the Indian culture concentrates only on salvation (mukti) of the soul and ignores other aspects of life. This is totally a wrong notion. At the same time, it is also not true that we give greater weightage to body and brain.But others lay stress only on body. We do pay special attention to the soul, yet that does not mean that we care for the soul only and neglect other aspects of life. An unmarried boy takes care of his mother, but after marriage he takes care of both his wife and the mother. It will be equally wrong to say that he no longer loves his mother. In the same way, before the birth of a child the wife only cares and loves her husband. But it is generally seen that after the birth of a child, the wife loves and cares for both the husband and the child. But it is wrong to presume that now the wife loves only the child and doesn’t love and care for the husband. In the same way, if we lay greater stress on the care for our soul, that does not mean that we ignore our body. For us body is the instrument to discharge our duties towards the nation and the society, while in the West it is meant just to satisfy human instincts.

Deendayalji made a clear distinction between the western and Indian culture and made everyone understand why Indian culture is the best of all. The solution to the problems India faces today lies in Indian thought alone. There is no room for conflict between nature and science. Panditji propounded a new political philosophy before the intelligentsia and the same was, directly or indirectly, adopted and appreciated too.

In today’s politics there is no place for ideology at all. But everybody does seem worried. A worried mind leads to gloom and a mind without worry is the passport to ultimate bliss. Deendayalji had chosen the path to take the Motherland to attain ultimate bliss and prosperity. But today the situation is different. If you ask the next generation or the present generation soaked in Michael Jackson culture, “Where would you like to take Bharatmata?”, they will put a counter-question less in Hindi and more in English, “Who’s Bharatmata? I do not want to go with her. I want to go with Mi...........” In these circumstances we have to educate the coming generation not only about Pandit Deendayalji but also about every great Indian luminary in politics who laid down his life for the country.

History is witness to the fact that those nations which failed to respect their ideals, went astray or some got extinct even. To keep our ideals alive we have to maintain the great traditions of our nation. Great men do not belong to any particular caste, community or party. They belong to the society and the nation as a whole. A life based on values always begets respect and should be so. But the depleting number of such lives is a matter of great concern for the nation. The punyatithi of Deendayalji is an occasion for all of us to ponder over the burning problems facing the country. That alone is the path to put back our Bharatmata to its past glory and dignity. Today’s generation is only asking, “Who is Bharatmata?” We have to arrest the degeneration that has set in in the country, lest a time comes tomorrow when the new generation says, “I hate Bharatmata”.