Letterheads to feature RSS icon Upadhyaya
JAIPUR: The BJP has asked its elected representatives in Raj as than to use a logo featuring a photograph of RS Sic on Deendayal Upadhyaya on their letterheads for all official correspondence, senior party leaders and officials told HT on Saturday.
The move drew an angry reaction from opposition Congress, which accuses the BJP government at the Centre of trying to impose Hindutva ideology in the country and turning controversial figures into icons.
BJP national joint secretary and Raj as than in charge VS a ti sh gave instructions for using the logo during a party meeting in Jaipur on Friday, a senior BJP leader said. The meeting was attended by heads of various municipal corporations, comm is- sions and boards. The logo will also be used by minister son their letterheads. “We were shown a sample of the logo with photos of Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya and other senior BJP leaders. We have been directed to print the logo on letter heads within two or three days,” Bharatpur mayor Shiv Singh Bhont said.
Upadhyaya was a founding member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a political party formed by the RSS, the idealogical fountainhead of the BJP. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was the fore runner of the BJP. The Na rend ra Mo di-led government has named several programmes after Upadhyaya.
Another senior BJP leader based in Jaipur also confirmed the move .“We have been asked to use the logo and will soon comply with the party directive,” he said.
The Congress, however, objected to the proposed move.
“The heads of local bodies are representatives of the government and not of the party. By asking them to include a logo of Deendayal Upadhyaya on their letterheads, BJP is trying to promote a person who has not made any contribution to the nation,” Rajasthan Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said.
“It’s a misuse of official machinery to push forward their ideology,” she added. State BJP president Ashok Parnami could not be reached for comments.
As part of Upadhyaya’s birth centenary celebrations last year, B JP had asked its spokespersons to use the logo in its official correspondence and press notes.
Over the past few years, several BJP-ruled states, including Raj as than, Gujarat, Ha ryan a and Maharashtra, faced allegation of saffron is ing education by changing schoolbooks. HT has earlier reported that from the current academic session, RS S icons such as Veer Savarkar, Upadhyaya and Shy am a Pr a sad Mukherjee, have been given prominent ly featured in revised textbooks published by the Raj as than education board. State education minister Va sud ev Dev na ni has called the process a cultural reform.