Late Balraj Madhok

Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Delhi State 1954-1964

Balraj Madhok was born on 25 February 1920 in Askardu, Jammu and Kashmir. His family was originally a Khatri family of Jammu which was closely associated with the Arya Samaj. His father Jagannath Madhok was a resident of Jalain in Gujranwala district of West Punjab. He was an employee in the Ladakh Division of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Balraj Madhok spent his childhood in Jalain, higher education was done in Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College of Lahore University.

He did his BA with honours in History in 1940. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Bhagat Singh and Madan Lal Dhingra were his ideals. In 1938, at the age of 18, during his student life, he came in contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which he considered close to the ideas of the Arya Samaj. In 1942, rejecting the offer of commission in the Indian Army, he took a vow to serve the country as an RSS pracharak. In 1942, he was given the responsibility of RSS pracharak in Jammu. While doing this work for about 8 months, he established a network of the Sangh. After that in 1944, at the age of just 24, he was made a history lecturer in DAV Post Graduate College, Srinagar. Here also he continued the Sangh work. He established a network of the Sangh in the Kashmir valley.

After the formation of Pakistan in August 1947, the conspiracy of Pakistan was at its peak in the entire Jammu and Kashmir. Jawaharlal Nehru was in love with Sheikh Abdullah. Jinnah's heartfelt desire was that the entire Kashmir should be ruled by Pakistan. He wanted to depose the Dogra Hindu ruler of Jammu and Kashmir and establish Islamic rule in the valley. Some Hindu refugees fleeing from Pakistan also came to Srinagar. Some also started coming to the branches of the Sangh. Madhok collected secret information from these people which revealed that Pakistan was planning to attack Kashmir on 21 October. He also informed the officials about this. On the Maharaja's behest, Madhok prepared 200 volunteers to protect the Srinagar airport on 23 October. These volunteers proved to be very useful when the time came. In 1948, Madhok came to Delhi and started teaching at Punjab University College which was established for the education of refugees from Punjab. Later he became a history lecturer at DAV College affiliated to Delhi University.

In 1949, he founded the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad which is the student organization of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. When Shyama Prasad Mukherjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951, Madhok came in contact with him and helped in the promotion and development of the party. He was made the founding secretary of the party.

The task of expanding the party in Delhi and Punjab was entrusted to Madhok. He established the state unit of Jana Sangh in both the places. In the same year, Madhok also founded the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS. After this, Madhok continued to grow. Madhok won the Lok Sabha elections from New Delhi in 1961.

In 1966, he was made the President of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In 1967, under his leadership, the party contested elections across the country for the first time and won 35 seats. He himself became an MP from Delhi for the second time. In Delhi, Jana Sangh won six out of seven seats, they won in places where no one could have expected. Not only this, a joint government of Jana Sangh was formed in Punjab and Jana Sangh succeeded in becoming the main opposition party in eight major states including Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It was only after this that Jana Sangh got a strong identity as an opposition party.

Professor Balraj Madhok married Kamala who was a professor in Delhi University. They have two daughters. In the last decade of his life, he was not that active but in between he used to participate in the programs of New Rajendra Nagar Arya Samaj. He lived with his daughters. Most of his time was spent in reading books.

In his last days, he was ill and was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. He died on 2 May 2016. Many dignitaries including Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Lal Krishna Advani expressed condolences on his demise. Narendra Modi went to his house to see him for the last time.