Delhi: Govt caters to people, not a particular idea, says Pradhan

The government does not belong to any particular idea, it belongs to the people. This was stated by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of the book, ‘Integral Humanism: A Distinct Paradigm of Development’, authored by Ashok Gajanan Modak, Pradhan said when the world was split in the thoughts of the communist or capitalist, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhay showed the path of integral humanism, which was different from these thoughts.

“After India’s independence, there was a confusion if Macaulayism was over. When the communist movement was at its peak and capitalism was another thought followed in many parts of Europe, Upadhayay put integral humanism as a thought keeping Indianness as its foundation,” Pradhan said.

The book is a collection of essays that delve into the philosophy of Upadhyay. It begins by introducing Upadhyay’s life and mission. It then presents a comparative analysis of his ideas with those of other significant Indian thinkers, namely Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Manohar Lohia and BR Ambedkar. Furthermore, the book explores the intellectual influences on Upadhyay’s philosophy, with a specific focus on Swami Vivekananda and Lokmanya Tilak.

RSS national publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar said Updhayay kept integral humanism as the party’s manifesto. “At a time when it was fashionable to either side with communism and capitalism, he realised that India needed a different thought process to move ahead. Awakening cannot happen in binaries,” he said.

Integral humanism was a set of concepts drafted by Upadhyay as a political programme and adopted in 1965 as the official doctrine of the Jan Sangh and later the BJP. — TNS