BJP turning Uttar Pradesh to Upadhyay Pradesh

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:

• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushal Yojana
• Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana
• Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme
• Deen Dayal Antyoday Upchar Yojna
• Deendayal Upadhyay Swaniyojan Yojana

The BJP ruled states have been as enthusiastic, if not more.

• Deendayal Rasoi Yojana, Madhaya Pradesh
• Deen Dayal Antyodaya Upchar Yojna, Madhaya Pradesh
• Deen Dayal Uttarakhand Gramin Awas Yojana Uttarakhand
• Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana, Goa
• Deendayal Rasoi Yojana, Rajasthan
• Deendayal Upadhyay Jan Kalyan Panchayat Shivir, Rajasthan
• Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojana, Haryana
• Deendayal Prime Minister Jan Aushadhi Store, Gujarat

Here’s an incomplete list of the institutions named after the Jan Sangh ideologue:

• Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Shekhawati University, Sikar (Rajasthan)
• Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Sanatan Dharma Vidyalaya, Kanpur
• Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University
• Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Delhi
• Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Vidyalaya, Kanpur
• Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
• Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Medical College, Rajkot
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
• Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Park, Indian Space Research Organisation Layout, Bengaluru
• Pandit Deendayal Flyover, Yeshwanthpur, Bengaluru
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Varanasi
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Urja Bhawan, Delhi
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Sanyukt jila Chikitsalay, Bijnor (UP)
• Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay National Academy of Social Security, Janakpuri, Delhi.