Nanaji Deshmukh

Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh also known as Nanaji Deshmukh (11 October 1916 – 27 February 2010) was a social activist from India. He worked in the fields of education, health, and rural self-reliance, and has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India. He was a leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and also a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Deshmukh was born on 11 October 1916 in Kadoli, a small town in the Hingoli district of Maharashtra to Amritrao Deshmukh and Rajabai Amritrao Deshmukh. Deshmukh's career was full of strife and struggle. He lost his parents at an early age and was brought up by his maternal uncle.

His family had little money to pay for his tuition fees and books. He went to high school in Sikar, where the Maharaja of Sikar gave him a scholarship. He studied Intermediate in Birla college (Now BITS Pilani) )and B.A. at the Sanatana Dharma College, Kanpur, graduating in first division in 1937. In the same year, he also joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Though born in Maharashtra, the fields of his activities were Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Seeing his devotion, the then RSS Sarsanghchalak M. S. Golwalkar sent him to Gorakhpur (U.P) as "pracharak". He rose to be the Saha Prant Pracharak of the whole of Uttar Pradesh (which has now become 8 prant of RSS).

Deshmukh became inspired by Lokamanya Tilak and his nationalist ideology, as well as showing an acquired interest in social service and activities. His family was in close contact with Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar who was a regular visitor to Deshmukh's family. He could discern potential in Nanaji and encouraged him to attend RSS shakhas.

In 1940, after Hedgewar's death, many youngsters inspired by him joined the R.S.S. in Maharashtra. Deshmukh was among those enthused youths who joined the RSS devoting their whole life in service to the nation. He was sent to Uttar Pradesh as a Pracharak. At Agra, he met Deen Dayal Upadhyaya for the first time. Later, Deshmukh went to Gorakhpur as a pracharak where he took great pains to introduce Sangh ideology in the eastern UP. It was not an easy task at that time as the Sangh had no funds to meet even day-today expenses. He had to stay in a Dharmashala but had to keep on changing Dharmashalas as no one was allowed to stay there for more than three days consecutively. Ultimately, he was given shelter by Baba Raghavdas on the condition that he would also cook meals for him.

Within three years, his hard work bore fruits and almost 250 Sangh Shakhas commenced in and around Gorakhpur. Nanaji always laid great emphasis on education. He established Bharat's first Saraswati Shishu Mandir at Gorakhpur in 1950.

When in 1947, the RSS decided to launch two journals Rashtradharma, Panchjanya and a newspaper called Swadesh,Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee was assigned the responsibility of the editor and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was made the Margdharshak with Nanaji as the managing director. It was a challenging task as the organisation was hard up for money to bring out the publications, yet it did never dampen their spirits and these publications gained popularity and recognition because of their strong nationalistic content.

Mahatma Gandhi's assassination led to imposition of ban on the RSS and publication work came to a grinding halt. A different strategy was adopted keeping the ban in mind and Nanaji was the brain behind underground publication work by the RSS those days.

When the ban was lifted and it was decided to have a political organisation, Bharatiya Jana Sangh came into being. Deshmukh was asked by Shri Guruji to take charge of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in Uttar Pradesh as general secretary. Deshmukh had worked as RSS pracharak in Uttar Pradesh and his groundwork proved of a great help in organising BJS at the grass roots. By 1957 BJS had established its units at each and every district in Uttar Pradesh and credit for this goes to the Nanaji who had extensively travelled all over the state.

Soon, BJS became a force to reckon with in Uttar Pradesh. In 1967 BJS became the part of United Legislature Party and joined the Government headed by Chaudhary Charan Singh. Deshmukh played a crucial role in evolving the alliance as he enjoyed good relations with Charan Singh and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia. He was successful in bringing leaders of different political backgrounds on one platform to give Uttar Pradesh its first non-Congress government.

A political giant, like Chandra Bhanu Gupta, former UP chief minister had to face one of the biggest challenges of his political career when Deshmukh outwitted him not once but thrice. On one occasion, he planned a strategy to defeat the Congress nominee and Gupta's favourite in Rajya Sabha. When Gupta himself contested elections from Lucknow in 1957, Nanaji crafted an alliance with socialist groups and helped Babu Triloki Singh in registering an impressive win over Gupta. Gupta faced another embarrassment when he was again defeated at Maudaha in Uttar Pradesh.

In Uttar Pradesh, BJS gained strength from Upadhyaya's vision, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's oratory skills and Deshmukh's organizational work and it emerged as an important player in the state politics. Deshmukh always shared good relations not only with his party colleagues but also with his opponents. Gupta, who suffered many defeats at the hands of Deshmukh, yet continued to have great respect for him and called him 'Nana Phadanvis '. His relations with Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia changed the course of Indian politics. Once he invited Lohia in BJS karaykarta sammelan where he met Upadhyaya for the first time and this association brought the BJS closer to Socialist parties in exposing the Congress and its misrule.

Desmukh actively participated in Bhoodan Movement started by Vinoba Bhave. By spending two months with Vinoba, he was inspired by the success and appeal of the movement.

The months that followed the judgment of Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High Court, setting aside the election of Indira Gandhi in June 1974, were traumatic. An anti-Indira agitation, led by Jai Prakash Narayan, was gathering momentum.

In the latter half of the year a massive procession, led by Narayan was taken out in Patna. As the procession wended its way through the roads of the state capital, the police made a lathi charge and, it is said, the Sarvodaya leader was the target. The final assault came when Narayan's supporters were escorting him to safety. One of the supporters sprang to his leader's protection, covered him and took all the lathi blows on himself. That man was Deshmukh. One of his arms was fractured in this daring effort.

Later, Narayan himself and Morarji Desai, who became the Prime Minister heading the Janata Party Government, publicly praised the courage shown by Deshmukh and, as a reward, offered him the Cabinet portfolio of Industry, but Deshmukh spurned the overture. Deshmukh had won in the 1977 election held after revocation of the Emergency with a comfortable margin from Balrampur Lok Sabha constituency of Uttar Pradesh.

In 1980, when he turned 60, he opted not only from the electoral fray but also politics. He later devoted himself completely to social and constructive work, lived in ashrams and never projected himself.

When Narayan gave the call for "Total Revolution" Deshmukh responded by giving total support to this movement. When the Janata Party was formed, Deshmukh was one of its main architects. Janata Party stormed into power by sweeping off the Congress.

He was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the NDA Government in the year 1999 in recognition of his services to the nation.

After retirement from active politics Deshmukh then served Deendayal Research Institute that he himself had established way back in 1969. He wanted Deendayal Research Institute to be devoted to strengthening the movement for constructive work in Bharat.

He did pioneering work towards the anti-poverty and minimum needs programme. Other areas of his work were agriculture and cottage industry, rural health and rural education. Deshmukh assumed chairmanship of the institute after relinquishing politics and devoted all his time to building up the institute. He was also instrumental in carrying out social restructuring programme in over 500 villages of both Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states of India. He also published the journal "Manthan" (introspection) which was edited by K.R. Malkani for many years.

Deshmukh did a lot of social work in Gonda (U.P.) and Beed (Maharashtra). The motto of his project was: “Har hath ko denge kaam, har khet ko denge paanee”.

He finally settled down at the picturesque Chitrakoot, a holy place on the borders of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It was in 1969 that Deshmukh visited Chitrakoot for the first time. He was moved to see the pathetic condition of the society in the karmabhoomi of Ram, the place where Ram spent 12 out of the 14 years in exile. He sat by the holy River Mandakini, and resolved to change the face of Chitrakoot during his lifetime. While in exile, Ram started working for the upliftment of the downtrodden here. With this important historical and inspiring background, Deshmukh made Chitrakoot the centre of his social work.

He chose to serve the poorest among the poor. He used to remark jokingly that he admired Vanavasi Ram more than Raja Ram and so would like to spend the rest of his life in Chitrakoot among the vanavasis and most backward sections of the society.

He also established Chitarkoot Gramoday Vishwavidyalaya in Chitrakoot, India's first rural University, and served as its Chancellor. Nanaji implemented the philosophy of integral humanism to improve the living standards of more than 150 villages of bundelkhand.

Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) was founded in 1972 by Deshmukh to validate the philosophy of Integral Humanism propounded by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (1916–1968). Integral Humanism gave a vision for Bharat that, with an approach to man and his relationship to society that is integral and complementary, could transform Bharat into a self-reliant and compassionate example for the world to follow.

Deshmukh developed a model for the development of rural areas on the basis of Integral Humanism. After initial experiments in Gonda (U.P.) and Beed (Maharashtra), Nanaji finally fine-tuned an integrated program for the development of rural areas that covers health, hygiene, education, agriculture, income generation, conservation of resources, and social conscience, that is both sustainable and replicable. The basis of the project is 'Total transformation through total development with people's initiative and participation'.

The project, called the Chitrakoot Project or the 'Campaign for Self-Reliance', was launched on 26 January 2005 in 80 villages around the Chitrakoot area in the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The aim was to achieve self-reliance for these villages by 2005. When complete in 2010, the project hopes to make the 500 surrounding villages self-reliant and serve as a sustainable and replicable model for the Bharat and the world.

DRI has association with the following important institutions among others.

The Wadia Group, Apeejay Education Society (AES), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF), Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology (MPCST), India Development Coalition of America (IDCA), Department of Elementary Education (DEE), The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Ayurveda Yoga & Naturopathy Unani Siddha and Homoeopathy(AYUSH) and Sewa International (SI)

He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1999. India's former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam praised Deshmukh for his "single-minded devotion to the uplift of the people".

Deshmukh died on 27 February 2010 in the premises of Chitrakoot Gramoday Vishwavidyalaya that he established. He was unwell for some time due to age-related ailments and had refused to be taken to Delhi for treatment. He has willed that his body be donated to Dadhichi Dehdaan Sanstha of New Delhi which was accepted, and his body was sent to All India Institute of Medical Sciences for medical research. His body was sent by road up to Satna, Madhya Pradesh, and hundreds of people and local residents accompanied this last procession to Satna. From Satna, his body was carried by a chartered plane to New Delhi. In New Delhi, his body was kept for few hours at Keshav Sadan (Delhi headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh), and after that the body was donated to AIIMS with the help of Dadhichi Dehdan Sanstha