Balraj Madhok

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Balraj Madhok
President of Bharatiya Jana Sangh
In office
1966–1967
Preceded byBachhraj Vyas
Succeeded byDeendayal Upadhyaya
Personal details
Born(1920-02-25)25 February 1920
Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College, Lahore
OccupationActivist, politician
ProfessionLecturer in history

Balraj Madhok (25 February 1920 – 2 May 2016) was an Indian political activist and politician from

Bharatiya Jan Sangh
(BJS).

Madhok was instrumental in launching the RSS in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and later the political party Jammu Praja Parishad for representing the interests of Jammu Hindus. He eventually rose to become the president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and led its successful contest in the general election of 1967. He was later expelled from Bharatiya Jana Sangh for "anti-party" activities after the death of Deendayal Upadhyaya.[1]

Early life

Madhok came from a Jammu-based Khatri family with Arya Samaj leanings.[2] His father Jagannath Madhok was from Jalhan in the Gujranwala district of West Punjab, and worked as an official in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in the Ladakh division.[3] Balraj Madhok was born in Skardu, Baltistan and spent early childhood at Jallen. He studied in Srinagar, the Prince of Wales College in Jammu and the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College (DAV College) in Lahore, graduating with B. A. Honours in History in 1940.[3]

Personal life

He married Kamla, who was a professor at the Delhi University. He had two daughters.[citation needed]

He died at the age of 96 on 2 May 2016.

Lal Krishna Advani.[5]
Prime Minister Modi visited Madhok's residence to pay his last respects.

Jammu and Kashmir

While studying in Jammu, Madhok joined the

pracharak (full-time worker) for the RSS in 1942 and was appointed as a worker for Jammu.[2] He is said to have worked in this position for about eight months building up the RSS network. He then moved to Srinagar in 1944 as a lecturer in history at the DAV College and continued to work as an RSS organiser. He established the RSS network in the Kashmir Valley.[6] When the Hindu refugees started arriving in Srinagar after the Partition, they also joined the RSS branches. Mehr Chand Mahajan, the Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir from 15 October 1947, was the Chairman of the managing society of the DAV College. [citation needed
]

After the state joined India and

Article 370). Madhok was extended from Jammu and Kashmir by Sheikh Abdullah as a result of his political stance.[2][7]

Madhok moved to Delhi in 1948 and started teaching at the Panjab University College, which was established for the education of refugees from West Punjab.[2] Later, he was a lecturer of history at the DAV College in Delhi affiliated to the Delhi University.[8]

In 1951, Madhok launched the student union of the Sangh Parivar, viz., the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.[9]

Bharatiya Jana Sangh

In 1951, Madhok joined

M. C. Sharma. The Delhi branch of the party was dissolved and then reconstituted with RSS pracharaks at the helm. Madhok continued to be active in the Delhi branch of Jana Sangh, and won the Lok Sabha seat for Delhi in 1961.[11][12]

In 1966–67, Madhok rose to become the President of the Jana Sangh.

A. B. Vajpayee, who represented the hardline RSS faction inside the party. Madhok denounced what he called the party's `leftist' leanings and the influence of the RSS on its functioning. His stand led to his marginalisation in the party. In 1973, L. K. Advani, who became the president, expelled Madhok from the party for three years.[10]

Madhok was arrested during the

Emergency and was imprisoned for 18 months, (1975–1977). He joined the Janata Party, into which Jana Sangh merged, but resigned in 1979 and tried to revive Jana Sangh under the name Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh. However, the party was not successful.[citation needed
]

In an interview with the Hindustan Times in 2010 on the occasion of his 90th birthday, he claimed that his then opponent Indira Gandhi had offered him the post of a central Minister in 1980 on her return to power.[citation needed]

Later career

Right from his expulsion in 1973, Madhok remained a pungent critic of

Lal Krishna Advani and their policies. During his last years, he resided in the New Rajinder Nagar area of New Delhi
. The road where his house is located stands named as Jagannath Madhok Lane.

Works

Madhok has authored over thirty books. A good number of them were on the Kashmir conflict:

  • Kashmir Problem: A Story of Bungling (Bharti Sahitya Sadan, 1952)
  • Kashmir: Centre of New Alignments (Deepak Prakashan, 1963)
  • Kashmir: The Storm Center of The World (A. Ghosh, Texas, 1992)
  • A Story of Bungling in Kashmir (Young Asia Publications, 1972)
  • Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh: Problem & Solution (Reliance Publishing House, 1987)
  • Kargil and Indo-Pak Relations

some on Hindu nationalism:

  • Indian Nationalism (Bharati Sahitya Sadan, 1969)
  • Indianisation? What, Why and How (S. Chand, 1970)

and others on general political affairs:

  • Hindustan on the Cross Roads (Mehta Brothers, Lahore, 1946)
  • Political Trends in India (S. Chand, 1959)
  • Portrait of a Martyr: Biography of Shyama Prasad Mukerjee
  • India's Foreign Policy & National Affairs (Bharatiya Sahitya Sadan, 1969)
  • Murder of Democracy (S. Chand, 1973)
  • Reflections of a Detenu (Newman Group, 1978)
  • Stormy Decade: Indian Politics, 1970–1980 (Indian Book Gallery, 1980)
  • Punjab problem, the Muslim connection (Hindu World Publications, 1985)

He also wrote in Hindi:

  • Jeet Ya Haar (in Hindi)
  • Jindgi Ka Safar parts 1, 2 and 3 (in Hindi)

Christophe Jaffrelot has included extracts from Indianisation? What, Why and How in his Hindu Nationalism - A Reader.[13]


References

  1. ^ Athmaram Kulkarni (1995). The Advent of Advani: An Authentic Critical Biography. Adiyta Prakashan. p. 91.
  2. ^ a b c d Jaffrelot 2010, p. 288.
  3. ^ a b "Balraj Madhok: A Life Sketch". Jana Sangh Today. February 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Veteran RSS leader Balraj Madhok dies". Hindustan Times. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  5. ^ Former Jan Sangh president Balraj Madhok passes away, The Hindu, 2 May 2016.
  6. ^ Sahagala, Jammu & Kashmir: A State in Turbulence 2011, p. 73.
  7. ^ Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir 2012, p. 195.
  8. ^ P.G.D.A.V. College (Evening) Archived 11 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, University of Delhi, retrieved 2015-05-08.
  9. ^ Jaffrelot 1996, p. 127.
  10. ^ a b c Jaffrelot 2007, p. 159.
  11. ^ Jaffrelot 2010, p. 289.
  12. ^ Jaffrelot 1996, p. 122.
  13. ^ Jaffrelot 2007, Chapter 9.
Sources

Further reading

  • Varshney, M. R., Jana Sangh, RSS and Balraj Madhok, Aligarh: Varshney College

External links

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