The Uttar Pradesh Government is likely to order CBI inquiry into Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya’s death in mysterious circumstances. Deendayal Upadhyaya was also the all-India General Secretary of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (which later became BJP in 1980). He propounded the theory of ‘Integral Humanism’ in 1964.
On September 25, 1968, Deendayal Upadhyaya was found dead on a rail track near Mughalsarai station. The UP government recently renamed Mughalsarai station as Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya railway station. According to a website devoted to Deendayal Upadhyay by the Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, “Around 3.45 a.m. on Feb. 11, 1968, the leverman at the Mughalsarai station informed the Assistant Station Master that about 150 yards from the station, towards the south of the railway line, a dead body was lying near the electric pole No.1276.” It was later discovered that the body was of Deendayal Upadhyaya who was travelling from Lucknow to Patna. It is still unknown that whether he was murdered or he died an accidental death.
Last year, a BJP worker, Rakesh Gupta from Ambedkar Nagar, had written to Home Ministry requesting a probe into the mysterious death of Deendayal Upadhyaya. In the letter, Rakesh Gupta said that there could be a possibility of “larger conspiracy” behind Deendayal Upadhyaya’s death.
According to a News 18 report, the Central government asked the UP government to submit a report on the issue. The UP government in turn ordered SP (Railways) of Allahabad to investigate the matter. The report submitted by the SP stated that all the documents related to the death of RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya were missing, which also includes the FIR and the case diary.
However, the register maintained by the police station mentions that in connection with Upadhyaya’s murder three people were detained and one of them was awarded with four year jail term.
According to a News 18 report, the report submitted by SP (Railways) to the IG states, “The incident took place on February 11, 1968 and case no 67/1968 was registered against unknown persons. Later, three persons Ram Avadh, Lalta and Bharat Ram were arrested. In 1969, Bharat Ram was convicted under IPC sections 379/411 while the other two were acquitted.”
There are lots of conspiracy theories about Upadhyaya’s death. Some people maintain that he was murdered and his death was not an accident. In May 2015, the senior BJP leader and the Rajya Sabha member- Subramanian Swamy- expressed doubts about the investigations carried out by the CBI into Upadhyaya’s murder. He said, “Deendayalji was killed while he was travelling by train from Lucknow to Patna. It was claimed, in a cover-up investigation by the CBI headed by the then DIG John Lobo, that he had been pushed out by robbers just before the train entered the Mughalsarai station. Close associates of Deendayalji, such as Nanaji Deshmukh and Dattopant Thengadi, never accepted this finding.”
Subramanian Swamy also said that his sources in the Union Home Ministry told him that the coach the RSS ideologue was travelling in did not have a single co-passenger with an original identification or address. He said, “All had fake addresses and IDs. This fact, if corroborated, is enough reason to reopen the case, since it is then an assassination — a murder with a political motive.”
Yogi government’s decision to re-open the case is the right step towards finding the truth behind the death of one of India’s most influential ideologues.