On the birth anniversary of Nanaji Deshmukh — founding member of the Jana Sangh, recipient of the Bharat Ratna, and one of independent India's most revered rural reformers — Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini offered his tribute on Sunday, October 11, 2026, honouring a life lived entirely in service of the nation.

In his post, CM Saini described Nanaji as 'Rashtra Rishi' — a sage of the nation — and recalled his defining contributions: 'Gram Swaraj, Aatmanirbharta evam Gramin Vikas ko nayi disha' ('giving new direction to village self-rule, self-reliance, and rural development'). The tribute was warm, grounded, and pointed — not ceremonial filler, but a deliberate invocation of a specific philosophy.

The Chitrakoot Experiment That Redefined Rural India

Nanaji Deshmukh, born October 11, 1916, in Hingoli district of present-day Maharashtra, dedicated the final decades of his life to a bold social experiment in Chitrakoot, one of India's most economically distressed regions straddling Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. There, he gave shape to the idea of 'Graamodaya se Rashtrodaya' — 'from village uplift, national uplift' — establishing the Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya and a network of self-sustaining village units that became a reference model for integrated rural development.

The model was radical in its simplicity: empower villages with health, education, and livelihood infrastructure so they no longer depend on distant state machinery. Nanaji called it 'antyodaya in practice' — serving the last person first. CM Saini's tribute specifically named this Chitrakoot vision, signalling its continued relevance to the BJP's rural governance vocabulary.

Jana Sangh Roots and the Emergency-Era Stand

Nanaji Deshmukh was among the founding architects of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951, working closely with Syama Prasad Mookerjee to build the party's organisational backbone, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. His political career, however, was always secondary to his social work — he famously refused a cabinet berth when the Janata Party came to power in 1977, choosing instead to focus on grassroots service.

His resistance to the Emergency (1975–77) imposed by the then Congress government remains one of his most cited chapters. CM Saini's tribute explicitly remembered this — 'Aapatkal ke viruddh sangharsh aur loktantrik mulyon ki raksha mein unka yogdan sadaiv smaraneey rahega' ('his contribution to the struggle against the Emergency and the protection of democratic values will always be remembered'). For the BJP, this is not merely history — it is a living political argument about the party's democratic credentials.

Bharat Ratna and a Legacy the Ruling Party Claims

Nanaji Deshmukh was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2019 by the Modi government — a conferral that carried unmistakable political symbolism, formally placing a Jana Sangh founding figure in the republic's highest civilian honour roll. He had passed away on February 27, 2010, at the age of 93, in Chitrakoot itself, where he had chosen to spend his final years among the villagers he served.

CM Saini's tribute closes with a forward-looking note: 'Seva, Sanskar aur Samarpan par aadharit unke aadarsh hamen jankalyan evam rashtra nirman ke path par aage badhne ki prerana dete rahenge' — 'his ideals, rooted in service, values, and dedication, will continue to inspire us on the path of public welfare and nation-building.' It is a formulation that doubles as a governing philosophy, not just a birthday salutation.

Nanaji Deshmukh did not leave behind monuments of stone. He left behind a proof of concept — that a determined individual, working village by village, can move the needle on poverty, illiteracy, and disempowerment. Haryana's Chief Minister invoked that proof today, and the challenge it implicitly sets is one every government in India is still working to meet.