Every year, Antyodaya Diwas is celebrated in India on September 25 to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and remember his life and legacy. Antyodaya Diwas highlights the vision and mission of uplifting the last person in society, focusing on creating an inclusive India where no one is left behind.
History
Antyodaya Diwas was first observed in 2014, when the Government of India decided to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay as a day to honour his contributions to the upliftment of the marginalised. His philosophy of 'Antyodaya', meaning the rise of the last person, was centered on addressing the needs of the underprivileged sections of society.
Antyodaya meaning
“In the Indian context, ‘Antyodaya’ means that we have to ensure the rise and development of the last person in society”.
About Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was born on September 25, 1916, in the village of Dhankia in Rajasthan. He lost his father, Bhagwati Prasad, when he was less than three years old and his mother before he was eight. While he was a student at Sanatan Dharma College, Kanpur he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R.S.S.).
Although he qualified as a teacher, he did not take to teaching profession. Instead, he dedicated himself to full-time work in RSS from 1942. Deendayal was a deep and original thinker. His philosophy of Integral Humanism, which is a synthesis of the material and the spiritual, the individual and the collective, bears eloquent testimony to this.
In the field of politics and economics, he was pragmatic and down to earth. He visualized for India a decentralized polity and self-reliant economy with the village as the base. He welcomed modern technology but wanted it to be adapted to suit Indian requirements. Deendayal Upadhyaya was a man of soaring idealism and had a tremendous capacity for organization.
He started a monthly magazine “Rashtra Dharma”, a weekly ‘Panchajanya’, and a daily ‘Swadesh’. In 1951, when Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bhartiya Jana Sangh, Deendayal became the first General Secretary of its U.P. branch. He was also chosen as All India General Secretary. Deendayal believed in a constructive approach. He exhorted his followers to co-operate with the Government when it was right and fearlessly oppose when it erred. He placed the nation’s interests above everything else. Deendayal Upadhyaya was found dead in the early hours of February 1, 1968, while traveling in a train.
Antyodaya: Upliftment of common man
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay also propounded the idea of Antyoday which means welfare of the last human being standing in the row. Deendayal Upadhyay spoke and wrote a lot for the up-liftment of common man. He thought that the whole purpose of the politics was to work for the poor and marginalized.
Deen Dayal's source of inspiration was the poor, helpless, tradition- bound common man, who withstood centuries of foreign aggression and misrule and kept the soul of the nation alive. In most of his political statements he appeared convinced that the country's future lay in the hands of this common man and felt that it is very essential to acquaint him with modern realities.
In his presidential address in 1967, he concluded with a string expression of support for the poor and powerless, "Every countryman is blood of our blood and flesh of flesh. We shall not rest till we are able to give everyone a sense of pride that they are children of Bharatmata. We shall make Mother India Sujala, Suphala (laden with fruits and overflowing with water) in the real sense of these words."