Prof. G. S. Narayana Murty
Shri Nanaji Deshmukh turned 88 on October 11. His birthday was celebrated in a very simple function in Delhi. Nanaji is one of those fortunate ones who had close links with of Dr Hedgewar and had taken the Sangh oath in his presence in the year 1935 at Kasim. His resolve to dedicate himself to Sangh throughout his life at the pyre of Dr Hedgewar was so deep rooted that he never had any time to look back except to carry out the work on hand as efficiently as possible.
Nanaji along with Shri Jugadeji was sent to Agra to organise Sangh work in the year 1940. Deendayal Upadhyaya who came to Agra to pursue his M.A. joined them. Since then Nanaji worked closely with Deendayalji both in organising Sangh work and later in Jana Sangh work till the unfortunate demise of Deendayalji in the year 1968. Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) was a natural emergence with Nanaji as its founder after the departure of Deendayalji so as to propagate his thought process through research and extensive studies. Then Nanaji plunged into the J.P. movement to steer the movement to the set goals. He, after J.P'sarrest during the Emergency, remained underground organising the Lok Sangharsh Samiti as its national coordinator. Nanaji renunciated active politics in 1978, gracefully declining the coveted central ministership of industries, offered by the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai. His declaration on October 8, 1978 to this effect in presence of the late Jayaprakash Narayan was historic and unique in the history of Indian polity. Nanaji started rural development activities at Singhbhum in the then Bihar and large-scale developmental activities at Gonda. His concerted efforts at Chitrakoot with the aim of creating 500 self-reliant villages in every aspect of social life, are yielding fruitful results in about 80 villages presently.
