Deendayal Upadhyaya was not only an Indian politician but also a philosopher, journalist, sociologist, economist, and thinker. For him, morality in public life was important. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was not only a politician but also noted as a poet and a writer. He was a member of the Indian Parliament for over five decades. Contributions of both the leaders in post-independence India range from politics, society to economics and overall development of the country.

Contributions Of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

1. India’s 1947 independence is political but Pandit Upadhyay is one of those thinkers in India who exercised on Swaraj of ideas. His efforts led to the decolonisation of ideas, i.e. decolonisation of Indian minds. India was free politically but ideologically, a colonial hangover was there.
2. Pandit Deendayalji’s organizing skills were unmatched. On assuming the post of President of Jana Sangh he said that “We are pledged to the service, not of any particular community or section but the entire nation. Every countryman is the blood of our blood and flesh of our flesh….”
3. He gave an alternative to Congress to Indian politics. He is called the architect of the nonCongress movement along with Ram Manohar Lohiya. In the 1967 election, for the first time after independence, in the Hindi belt of India, a political non-congress government was formed.
4. He gave three cardinal principles for Indian politics; Decentralisation, Diversity in social and cultural ideas, and Planning should be decentralised.
5. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya gave the idea of Integral Humanism that is different from western ideologies. He considered that it was of utmost importance for India to develop an indigenous economic model with a human being at centre stage.
6. He believed that economics without ethics and political discourse without morality are creating a crisis in society. Therefore he propounded that every economic theory and policy should be in the context of specialism, local tradition and nature and temperament of people.
7. Deendayal Upadhyay supported cottage industries, village-based industries where people could be self-reliant. This is reflected in Gandhi’s philosophy also.

Contributions Of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Contributions In Politics Of Independent India

1. As foreign minister in the Janata government, Vajpayee earned a reputation for improving relations with Pakistan and China.
2. Mr Vajpayee was the first Indian prime minister not of the Indian National Congress to serve a full term in office.
3. During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. Vajpayee assumed a defiant posture in the face of Western criticism of India’s testing of several nuclear weapons in 1998.
4. Vajpayee sought to improve diplomatic relations with Pakistan, travelling to Lahore by bus to meet with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
5. After the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan, he sought to restore relations through engagement with President Pervez Musharraf, inviting him to India for a summit at Agra.

Contributions In Indian Economy

1. Under his tenure from 1998 to 2004, India maintained a GDP rate of eight per cent, the inflation level came down to four per cent and foreign exchange reserves were flourishing.
2. In 2000 his government began an extensive program of divestment of public funds from several key state-run industries.
3. Under his leadership, the country became a world leader in information technology.
4. He introduced the Fiscal Responsibility Act which aimed to reduce the fiscal deficit and boost public-sector savings.

Contributions In Infrastructure

1. The most ambitious road projects in India were launched by him, including the Golden Quadrilateral that made transportation easy, connecting metropolitan cities Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai through a network of highways.
2. He also launched Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojna connected distant villages across the country with a network of all-weather roads.

Contributions In Education

1. In his tenure, it was for the first time in India that elementary education became free for children aged 6-14 years.
2. The RTE act was launched in 2001 and brought a drastic change in the number of dropouts by 60 per cent.

Recognising his contributions Atal Bihari Vajpayee was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya’s relevance lies in the fact that in political, social and cultural discourse, he introduced the basic concept of Indian philosophy. The present government is following the ideals of both the great leaders through Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas- Development for all.