Nagpur: To mark the hundredth birth anniversary of RSS ideologue and founder member of Bhartiya Jan Sangh, Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya, a play ‘Gatha Pt. Deendayal’ will be staged at Deshpande hall on September 16.
Produced by Shakti Thakur, a member of BJP and president of Prayas Bahudeshiye Samajik Sanstha which will be presenting it, the 90-minute play will be the first such presentation on the leader.
Written by city’s theatre writer, director and actor Vinod Indurkar, the play seeks to showcase the life of Upadhyaya which has never been compiled and presented for general consumption.
“He was a highly intelligent and educated person whose thoughts were amazing for their depth, meaning and simplicity,” says Indurkar, who researched on Upadhyaya by reading a handful of books that are available on him at the RSS library.
“His philosophy of integral humanism which combines mind, body, intellect and soul is so wonderful that I felt the common person should know about it,” he says. Denying that he had to take permission of any of the BJP or RSS stalwarts for this work, Indurkar says, “What surprises me is that even within the party there are not too many who are familiar with Pt Deendayal or his thoughts.”
The play, which is in Hindi, starts with the demise of Pt. Deendayal at Mughal Sarai station near Varanasi, under mysterious circumstances and goes back to his early life, education, his work as an RSS pracharak and the founder member of Bhartiya Jansangh. It is set in both the pre and post-independence era and has characters of other leaders like Nanaji Deshmukh, Balasaheb Deoras, Dattopant Thengdi and Atal Behari Vajapayee.
Local actor Yogesh Parihar plays the protagonist. “His life had enough content for making of a mega play. After I wrote it, union minister Nitin Gadkari suggested that I show the writings to Yoganand Kale, who was the pro VC of Nagpur University. I also showed it to senior RSS ideologue MG Vaidya but he said he didn’t know much about Upadhyaya and returned my script after correcting a few grammatical errors,” says Indurkar who also feels that the play would not create any controversy as “I have only taken his views and have steered clear of politics or mentioning of any other political party or figures.”
But the play has created quite a flutter in the party cadres and there is a clamour to connect with it. It is no coincidence that it will be staged on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. “Theatre is the best possible genre to learn more about the thoughts, teachings life and principles of Pt Deendayal who should be looked as a thinker beyond any party lines,”Shakti Thakur said and added that it will be a good training for the new generation of party’s volunteers.
