Indian Political Thought Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Political Science YouTube Lecture Handouts

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Deen Dayal Upadhyay: Integral Humanism, Idea of Desh, Dharma, Nation|Political Science

Title: Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Introduction

Illustration: Introduction

Deen Dayal Upadhyay as a political thinker of India has propounded the theory of “Integral Humanism” which aims at the holistic development of an Individual as a requirement of a developed Society.

Political Ideologies of Deen Dayal

  • He stressed on the ancient Indian wisdom of oneness of the humankind.
  • The brotherhood of a shared, common heritage was central to political activism.
  • Emphasis on coexistence and harmony with nature.
  • An alternative approach which was free from the dialectics of competition and envy, a third way from the inertia of Capitalism and Communism.

Integral Humanism

  • According to Deendayal Upadhyaya, a nation needs four things. Firstly, land and people, which we call country; secondly, collective will, comprising the desire of all; thirdly, a system, which can be called as a set of principles or constitution for which the concept of Dharma is invoked in our culture; fourthly, ideals of life.
  • All these four elements comprise a nation; He draws an analogy between individual and nation as he writes that just as man needs body, mind, intellect and soul, likewise the above four, make a nation. Deendayal emphasizes that only a group of people and a piece of land, neither separately nor together, constitute a nation.

Idea of a Desh or Country

  • Deendayal draws a distinction between a country and nation. He is of the view that land and people constitute only a country (Desh) . He stresses that though country or Desh and nation appear synonymous because the former is the basis of activities, and is bent upon realizing fundamental principles in unison with one another.
  • A cavalcade of great men who are committed to austerity, sacrifice, heroic effort dedicates itself to consolidate, advance and enrich the above tradition. According to Deendayal emergence of Jan, people with specific disposition and cultural tradition evolves a nation.

Dharma and Nation

  • Abnation for Deendayal is a self-begotten and abstract reality. The state is an arrangement together with the government to realize the necessities of the nation. It serves as an agent of the nation and justifies itself in realizing the demands of the nation.
  • It is important to notice that Deendayal emphatically upholds the primacy of Dharma not just for the individual and society but also for the nation, the state and the government.
  • For Deendayal, Dharma is not just a sovereign value and a balancing wheel between Artha and Kama to attain Moksha but also the anchor sheet of nation, state and government. To him it is a keel of society and the cosmos or the Universe, and is the hub from which radiates the axial lines of truth, solidarity, fraternity, self-hood, right governance and true democracy. It sustains life on the earth.

Questions

1. In defining the connection between individual development and development of the society a close link is found between the political thoughts of Deendayal and that of Lohia and Aurobindo.

2. Political thoughts of Deendayal are affected with both the socialism thinking and ancient Indian political thoughts.

Mayank