Bharat Ratna Nanaji Deshmukh

Context

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi paid tribute to Bharat Ratna Nanaji Deshmukh for his Jayanti.

About Nanaji Deshmukh

• Nanaji Deshmukh born as Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh on October 11, 1916 in the Marathi-speaking Deshastha Brahmin family in Kadoli, a small town in the Hingoli district of Maharashtra.
• He was a social activist and a longtime member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who also played a key role in the JP Movement against the Indira Gandhi government.
• He joined RSS at the age of 13.
• He was associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from 1928 until his death (2010) in Satna, Madhya Pradesh, and was known for starting a series of inspired RSS schools throughout India.
• As General Secretary of the Lok Sangharsh Samiti, Deshmukh was the main force behind the social activist Jayaprakash Narayan agitation for total revolution.
• He was a veteran of Sangh Parivar, a founding member of the Janata Party, and one of the senior-most members of the BJP.
• Nanaji Deshmukh was the founding member of the Baratiya Jan Sangh.
• Nanaji Deshmukh has worked in the field of education, health and self-employment in rural areas.
• He was politically active in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• He represented the Uttar Pradesh region in Balrampur constituency in Lok Sabha from 1977 to 1979.
• He played an important role in carrying out the social restructuring programme in over 500 villages of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Deshmukh also founded the country's first Saraswati Sishu Mandir in Gorakhpur in 1950 and was the founder of the Deendayal Research Institute based in Chitrakoot.
• He was also honored with the Padma Vibhushan in 1999.
• After his death he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest award in 2019 by the Government of India.
• Nanaji Deshmukh died on 27 February 2010 (at the age of 94).