Nanaji Deshmukh: All you need to know about the Bharat Ratna awardee

Deshmukh, who is being honoured with Bharat Ratna award posthumously, was a champion of upliftment of the down-trodden and education

Noted social activist Nanaji Deshmukh will be posthumously conferred with Bharat Ratna, by President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday.

The veteran activist, who passed away in 2010, was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and has established a chain of RSS-inspired schools throughout the country. He was also honored with the Padma Vibhushan earlier and is being awarded the honour with former president Pranab Mukherjee and posthumously with noted Assamese singer Bhupendra Hazarika.

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Born Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh on October 11 in 1916 in a Hingoli in Maharashtra, he was politically active in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. He represented Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur constituency in the Lok Sabha from 1977 to 1979. Deshmukh had retired from active politics in 1980 and from 1999 to 2005, he also served as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. He was known to have established Saraswati Shishu Mandir, that runs a chain of private schools in India and is said to be the educational wing of the RSS. Another area of his work was in the agriculture and social restructuring of many villages across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Deshmukh is also said to have played a key role in the Jai Prakash (JP) movement against Emergency in 1974 and had actively participated in the formation of the Janata Party government in 1977. After being selected for India's highest civilian award, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised Deshmukh for his service to the country.

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"Nanaji Deshmukh's stellar contribution towards rural development showed the way for a new paradigm of empowering those living in our villages. He personifies humility, compassion, and service to the downtrodden. He is a Bharat Ratna in the truest sense!" Modi had tweeted.

Nanaji Deshmukh's stellar contribution towards rural development showed the way for a new paradigm of empowering those living in our villages.

He personifies humility, compassion and service to the downtrodden. He is a Bharat Ratna in the truest sense!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2019

With inputs from ANI

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