Deendayal Upadhyay. (Representational Image)
Prisons have been holding various events to spread awareness of BJP’s ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya among inmates on his birth centenary. In orders issued to this effect in June, the government has asked jails to organise programmes on every Saturday till the centenary celebrations conclude on September 25. One such programme was organised in Kanpur District Jail on Saturday where BJP district president Surendra Maithani was invited to give a speech on the life and ideology of Upadhyay. Maithani also spoke of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said his party would help inmates to return to mainstream society upon their release and asked them to visit the local party office.
Maithani told The Indian Express that Girish Bajpai, who is a BJP worker convicted of rioting in Kanpur in 1991, anchored the programme. He claimed that he had contacted the jail himself and expressed his wish to deliver the lecture. “Deendayal’s ideology is for the deprived section of society. These inmates are deprived from mainstream,” he added. Kanpur jail superintendent Ashish Tiwari said all departments have been asked to invite people associated with Upadhyaya’s ideology to deliver a lecture.
Kanpur jail deputy jailer Rajesh Kumar Rai, who is coordinating the programmes, said: “It was decided that a lecture will be organised on the first Saturday of the month, essay writing on the second, an art competition on the third and poem writing on the fourth.” Local senior BJP leader Ramdeo Shukla had delivered the first lecture last month.
“As we do not know much about Deendayal Upadhyayji, BJP leaders are being invited to deliver the lecture,” said Rai. He added that the jail had brought books on Upadhyay for its library.
