I wrote this article on Nanaji Deshmukh for Organiser. You
can read a version of the article below:
We are not for ourselves but for those who are exploited and
vulnerable.” Nanaji Deshmukh said and lived his entire life by this motto.
Eight years after his death, the Government of India conferred on him the
Bharat Ratna, on the eve of the Republic Day. He is the one who turned the idea
of Antyodaya into reality through Gramodaya. He was an able organiser, thinker,
revolutionary and a social architect (Samaj Shilpi). He made successful efforts
to implement the ideas of Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj, Deendayal’s Antyoday and JP’s
Sarvodaya through Gramodaya.
Born in Maharashtra he devoted his entire life to the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) making Uttar Pradesh his area of working as
an RSS pracharak. He was based in Gorakhpur and expanded the RSS work in
Eastern Uttar Pradesh. In 1950, he opened the first Saraswati Shishu Mandir in
Gorakhpur, which has now bloomed into over 18,000 branches across the length
and breadth of the country. He worked closely with Deendayal Upadhyay, whom he
treated like his senior even though they were of the same age. When the
magazines ‘Panchjanya’ and ‘Rashtra Dharma’ were published from Lucknow, Nanaji
Deshmukh was made its Managing Editor with Atal Behari Vajpayee as its Editor.
