Deendayal Upadhyaya 'reborn' in Dhanakya

Deendayal Upadhyaya, the man who has been an enigma for years, finally gets a state-of-the-art National Memorial, from where his ideology can be seen and heard by the visitors. In order to keep the spirit of history and contemporary tastes intact, this fully air-conditioned monument housed in Dhanakya village, nearly 25 kilometres from Jaipur, has three floors divided into several sections. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Memorial is a monumental structure for the man who was one of the founders of the Jan Sangh. It comprises Upadhyaya's statue made of gunmetal, panoramas depicting his life and a digital hologram which tells his story with a touch of modernity.

THE MEMORIAL

A 60-feet, four-storied circular building having a lavish dome would greet visitors as soon as they enter the sprawling structure spread across 4,400 square metre area. A grand 15-feet high statue stands tall amid lush green surroundings. The first of its kind memorial has been curated jointly by the Heritage Protection and Promotion Authority of Rajasthan and Deendayal Research Institute (DRI). Onkar Singh Lakhawat, the man behind the memorial was seen taking last-minute tour of the area to ensure everything is in place ahead of the inauguration on Wednesday. BJP national president Amit Shah will dedicate this national memorial to the public on Wednesday.

UPADHYAYA'S ORIGINAL VOICE

Keeping the government's Digital mission in mind, an electronic gallery has been installed at the memorial. According to cultural architect Masooma Rizvi, the person curating the museum, "The unique feature of this memorial is a hologram which has original voice of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay where he can be heard reciting a poem." This apart, in an attempt to put together a mosaic of India's cultural nationalism and to project Upadhyaya as one of the makers of modern India, a lot of care has been taken to showcase his legacy with both modern and traditional touch.

CHUGGING INTO HIS LIFE

The electronic gallery, which is part of this sprawling complex, takes you down the memory lane as you enter the hall which has coaches of train painted in a colour that was a hallmark of the Indian Railways in past. "The Jan Sangh founder spent his entire life on board train, touring the country and so this section has been given a form of a train to help the visitors visualise his life journey," adds Rizvi. This section has imported magic mirrors having motion display sensors. With a hand gesture, the audio-visual display depicting the political journey, life and childhood of Upadhayay, starts automatically.

SELFIE BOOTH & MORE

A photo booth has also been set up where one can click and print a selfie with Upadhyaya in the background. This will be an added attraction for the selfie-crazy audience, feel the curators. A separate quiz booth is also installed wherein visitors can test their knowledge about Upadhyaya's life. This is the first big memorial for Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhayay and through this BJP plans to propagate his ideas to counter the challenge from the Congress, which was the most dominant political force once.