Antyodaya Diwas is celebrated annually on 25th September in India. It marks the birth anniversary of Indian leader Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and is celebrated in his honour to remember his life and legacy.
This year, the Antyodaya Diwas marks the 105th birth anniversary of Upadhyaya. He was the co-founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) thinker.
Antyodaya means uplifting the poorest of the poor, the special day aims at reaching the weakest section of the society. On this day, Upadhyaya is remembered for his contribution to society and politics that he played in the upliftment of the poor.
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
Deendayal Upadhyaya was an Indian politician, 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 Duty’, in the 1940s to spread the ideology of Hindutva nationalism.
Upadhyaya is known for drafting Jan Sangh’s official political doctrine, Integral humanism, by including some cultural-nationalism values and selectively appropriating few Gandhian socialist principles such as sarvodaya (progress of all) and swadeshi (self-sufficiency).