Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was an Indian philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and political activist. He was one of the most important leaders of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the present day Bharatiya Janata Party. A revered icon of Integral Humanism, he was an ideologue and a guiding force for an alternative model of governance and politics.