Kozhikode (Kerala), Sep 25 (IANS): BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday paid tribute to Jan Sangh ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya calling him a exceptional thinker and a humanist par excellence on his birth anniversary.
Speaking on the last day of the two-day long BJP National Council Meet in Kozhikode, Kerala, Shah referred to Upadhyaya -- an RSS member and former President of Jan Sangha -- as "an alternative thinker, who, when everyone was busy with communism, capitalism, came up with an ideology of 'humanism'".
He thanked and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi too, who was present at the meet.
Upadhyaya, a politician, philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist was born on September 25, 1916 in Uttar Pradesh. He served as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh from 1967 until his death in 1968.