It’s not just the approval to naming Mughalsarai Junction after Deendayal Upadhyay that has raised eyebrows. After all the late Jan Sangh leader was found dead in a train, some say murdered by his own associates, at this very railway station, as BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain pointed out in Parliament on Friday while defending the decision.
Earlier in June, Uttar Pradesh cabinet had decided to name the Mughalsarai municipality as Deendayal Nagar. Last month, the Home Ministry granted an NOC to rename Farah Town railway station near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh after Deen Dayal. In April, the UP government decided to name the Agra airport after Upadhyay.
The Modi government had announced an allocation of ₹100 crore for celebrating the birth centenary of Deendayal Upadhyay.
Enormous amount of public funds are being used by BJP governments in the states too publishing, promoting and buying the late Jan Sangh leader’s ‘works’, holding functions to commemorate his birth centenary and naming a huge number of schemes, institutions and infrastructure projects after him.
The UP government’s decision to rename the iconic Mughalsarai railway station near Varanasi, the largest marshalling yard in Asia and one of the oldest railway stations in the country, set up in 1862, after him has made several political parties in the state see red.
Naresh Agarwal (SP) on Friday raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha saying that government was trying to change the character of the country by tagging the historic railway station to someone "who made no contribution to the freedom struggle.”
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi took a jibe and said that opposition parties seemed to have no objection to ‘Mughal names’ but were objecting to a “great thinker.”
According to an Indian Express report, schools across Uttar Pradesh are being handed booklets by the BJP to help students register and prepare for an upcoming competitive examination on topics like RSS and BJP ideologues, the Yogi Adityanath government, demonetisation and ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’.
The 70-page booklet — called Samanya Gyan Pratiyogita – 2017 — contains details and questions on leaders like Veer Savarkar, Deendayal Upadhyay, K B Hedgewar, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Nanaji Deshmukh, and on topics like nationalism, Hindutva and major schemes launched by the Centre and state government, according to the report.
Maharashtra government is going to spend ₹4.5 crore to procure 10,000 copies of the works of Jana Sangh founder which would be distributed to over 400 libraries in the state.
Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) in Vadodara introduced a short-term course on the RSS ideologue in 2015.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on unveiled the statue of Jan Sangh idealogue in Raipur in November last year, a month after the Chhattisgarh govt transfers IAS officer over a FB post on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
Since the BJP led NDA government has come to power at the Centre, it has named or renamed the following schemes after Deendayal Upadhyay:
The BJP ruled states have been as enthusiastic, if not more.
Here’s an incomplete list of the institutions named after the Jan Sangh ideologue:
Published: 04 Aug 2017, 7:21 PM IST
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Published: 04 Aug 2017, 7:21 PM IST