Every year on September 25, the BJP pauses to remember the ideological architect who gave it its founding grammar — and Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda opened the day with a tribute to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, saluting the philosopher-politician whose concept of Antyodaya — 'upliftment of the last person' — continues to frame the party's welfare vocabulary seven decades on.

Writing in Hindi, Nadda offered what he called 'kotish naman' — a million-fold salute — to Upadhyay, describing him as the 'proponent of Integral Humanism, founder member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, and our guiding light.' He credited Upadhyay with charting a path toward 'the upliftment of the person standing on the last rung of society and the self-reliance of the nation.'

The man behind 'Integral Humanism'

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay was born on September 25, 1916, and rose to become one of the defining intellectual forces of Indian conservative nationalism. As a founder member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh — the political party established in 1951 that would eventually evolve into the Bharatiya Janata Party — he articulated a philosophy he called Ekatma Manavaad, or Integral Humanism: the idea that genuine national development must be rooted in Indian culture and must reach its most marginalised citizens first.

His concept of Antyodaya placed the dignity of the poorest person at the moral centre of governance. It was a radical inversion of trickle-down thinking — start at the bottom, not the top.

From philosophy to policy: Antyodaya's welfare legacy

The Antyodaya principle found its most direct policy expression in the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, launched in 2000, which extended heavily subsidised food grains to the poorest households across India. Successive NDA governments have invoked the same ideological lineage to frame a broader basket of social-sector programmes — from housing and sanitation to health cover and direct benefit transfers — as continuations of Upadhyay's vision.

Nadda made that link explicit on Friday, writing that 'today our government, carrying forward his ideas, is committed to delivering the benefits of development and public welfare to the last person in society.' It is a formulation BJP leaders repeat with deliberate consistency each year on this date, anchoring contemporary policy ambition in a fixed ideological source.

A simple life as political symbol

Nadda also highlighted what he called Upadhyay's 'simple life, nation-devoted thought, and unwavering dedication to Indian culture' as an inspiration for all. This framing — the ascetic, principled leader uncorrupted by personal ambition — remains a powerful rhetorical touchstone for the BJP, contrasting an idealised founding ethos with the perceived transactionalism of rival political traditions.

Upadhyay's legacy grows sharper, not softer, with each passing anniversary — because the party he helped found now governs at the Centre and must continuously answer whether the last person on the ladder has, in fact, moved up.