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| A Tribute to Balraj Madhok | | 25 February 1920 - 2 May 2016 | | Sat.Parkash. Suri & Dr. Gurdev Singh
Balraj Madhok, a great intellectual, a thinker, a social reformer, a strict disciplinarian and writer of numerous books, a leading light of the Bhartiya Jana Sanga (BJS), the fore- runner of the Bhartiya Janta Party in the 60s and early 70s who represented the NCT of Delhi and South Delhi in the 2nd and 4th Lok Sabha respectively, was born on 25thFebruary, 1920 in the undivided Jammu and Kashmir's Skardu area. Madhok was a staunch member of RSS before the BJS was founded in October 1951 and was also the founder secretary of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarathi Parishad (AVBP). In 1951, Madhok was the convenor of the first convention of BJS and afterwards was appointed its National Secretary. In 1966, Madhok was elected as the National President of the BJS and in the parliamentary elections in 1967, he led BJS to its bigger ever win when it won 35 Lok Sabha seats. He was described by his close associates as a leader who was fully committed to BJS's ideology and principles. His decline in the party began in 1970s when Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani rose in prominence and he was expelled from the Party by Party President Advani Ji in 1973 on disciplinary grounds.
There might be no dearth of heroic deeds among the Indians but the one name that springs to mind who is synonymous to indomitable courage and valour during tough times is that of Balraj Madhok. Balraj Madhok was absolutely committed to the cause of unifying Hindus and Muslims at critical times to stand steadfastly against the Pak forces and local separatists during Kashmir's invasion when the ruthless raiders plundered and pillaged their way to the very gates of Srinagar 'in total disregard of its standstill agreement signed between Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir state and Pakistan on 14 August 1947, Pakistan crippled abruptly essential supplies such as salt and petrol, including the supply of currency notes and small coins to the Imperial Bank in Kashmir and severed postal and telegraphic connections'. Matters became increasingly critical despite the Maharaja's protests. The blockade was a prelude to a tribal invasion of the State sponsored by Pakistan and assisted by Army regulars on leave as well as ex-servicemen. Ostensibly, raiders wanted to liberate their Kashmiri Muslim brothers but their primary objective was to create unrest and loot. In this melee, they made no distinction between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims and they advanced into Baramulla, the commercial centre of the region with a population of then 11,000 until they were only an hour away from the summer capital, Srinagar. For the next three days that is 24 October to 26 October 1947, raiders were engaged in massive plunder, rioting and rape. 'It was scene of genocide and orgy unleashed by the raiders. No one was spared even the inmates of the St. Joseph's Mission Hospital were brutally targeted, massacred and raped.'
The state being gravely imperilled, the Maharaja Hari Singh appealed for assistance to India which urged its formal accession to Indian Union in order to ensure complete legal as well as constitutional basis for military intervention to defend the state. The Maharaja himself executed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947 in the Durbar Hall of Amar Mahal in Jammu with representative of the India Government, V.P.Menon. Emergency plans were initiated on war footing on the morning of 27 October 1947 to airlift the Indian troops to evacuate the enemy and Balraj Madhok was a witness to this fiasco and atrocities inflicted on the innocent victims without none of their fault only to satisfy the whims of Mohd. Ali Jinnah who somehow wanted to annex Kashmir like a ripe apple to fall in his lap but all his manouvers were defeated by the timely arrivals of Indian troops under the command of Lt. Col. Ranjit Rai. During these trying times and turmoil, Balraj Madhok created an atmosphere of communal harmony among the different communities at the risk of his life.
Born on 25 February 1920 at Skardu in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir now illegally occupied by Pakistan, Madhok started his academic and political career in the state. Imbued with steely guts, Balraj Madhok alongwith one of the tallest leader of Jammu, Pt Prem Nath Dogra, formed the Praja Parishad in 1949 for the complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir state. The main plank of the agitation launched by this organization was against the tyranny of the state government and the unrest created against the 'two constitutions', 'two flags' and 'two Prime Ministers' in one united country would never be tolerated. The special status accorded to the state caused acute resentment to the people of Ladakh and Jammu and was in favour of Kashmiri leadership to establish its hegemony over them. Under the new constitution and the cover of article 370 decisions taken by the Kashmiri leadership were manipulated that tilted in favour of the Kashmir region.
Later on Praja Parishad party got merged with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh when Mukherjee formed this political party in 1951 and Balraj Madhok rendered his yeoman's services in its formation. In 1980, Bharatiya Jana Sangh was transformed into the Bharatiya Janata Party after the split with the Janata Party and its failure at the centre.
Prof. Balraj Madhok held various positions in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh first as its secretary, general secretary, idealogue, parliamentary party leader besides he scripted its first election manifesto. He was elected to the second and fourth Lok Sabha from North Delhi and South Delhi and was elected the President of the Party in 1966 and led the party in the general elections in 1967. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh got its highest tally of 35 seats in the lok sabha.
But his popularity irked his hardcore supporters as they started to believe that Balraj Madhok had become too big for his boots. In 1969, Madhok developed ideological differences with other senior leaders of the organization such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh over the policies of the party. He accused Vajpayee of being hand in glove with their arch opponent Indira Gandhi and thus at the end of the day was expelled from the party in March 1973. Right from his expulsion in 1973, Balraj Madhok remained a derisive critic of Bharatiya Janata Party, its policies and programmes.
During emergency Balraj Madhok was arrested and kept in confinement for 18 months alongwith other national leaders of different mainstream political parties. When the Janata Party was formed, Madhok joined it but later on resigned in 1979 and revived the Bharatiya Jana Sangh under the name of Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh but it could not have a smooth sailing in the national politics.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times on 90th Birthday in 2010, he claimed that Indira Gandhi had offered him a central Cabinet Minister's berth in 1980 when she came to power after defeating the Janata Party in parliamentary elections. Balraj Madhok was selflessely devoted to the Nation's cause and its burning problems whose ideological commitment was very srong and who possessed immense clarity of thought which is reflected in his works and philosophy. |
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