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Balraj Madhok
Balraj Madhok

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist and former president of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) Balraj Madhok, aged 96, died on Monday.

Madhok, who was ill for last few days died around 9:00 AM at his residence in central Delhi’s New Rajendra Nagar area, an RSS official told a news gathering agency.

Madhok was born on February 25, 1920, in Skardu region of Jammu and Kashmir (now in Pakistan’s Gilgit Balitistan territory).

Madhok was also elected to the Lok Sabha in 1961.

Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan tweeted, “Balraj Madhok left for heavenly abode today-India loses a great intellectual, thinker and a social reformer. May his soul rest in peace.”

His body would be cremated at Satya Nagar crematorium at 5:00 PM, a RSS official was quoted as having said.

Born on February 25, 1920, Madhok belongs to Khatri family.

Madhok completed his graduation with Honours in History in 1940. He studied in Srinagar, the Prince of Wales College in Jammu and the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College (DAV College) in Lahore.

Posted in Ladakh division by the then J&K Government, Madhok’s father – Jagannath Madhok – was from Jallen in the Gujranwala district of West Punjab. Madhok was born in Skardu, Baltistan and spent early childhood at Jallen.

During his education in Lahore, Madhok joined the RSS in 1938, which he found to be close to the Arya Samaj “way of thinking”.

After he became a pracharak (full-time worker) in 1942, he was sent to Jammu and Kashmir for establishing the RSS here.

He along with Prem Nath Dogra, formed the Praja Parishad party in Jammu in November 1947.

This party fought against the Pakistani tribals who were on way to Kashmir in 1947-48.

Since Kashmir’s accession to Indian union, the party demanded complete unification of Jammu and Kashmir with India, in opposition to “autonomy” negotiated between S M Abdullah and J L Nehru (later embodied in the Article 370).

Later, he went to Delhi in 1948 and started teaching at the Panjab University College. The college was established for the education of refugees from West Punjab. He also taught history at the DAV College in Delhi affiliated to the Delhi University.

Madhok is founder of the student union of the Sangh Parivar, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. ABVP was founded in 1951.

Among many books, Madhok authored: Hindustan on the Cross Roads; Portrait of a Martyr (Biography of Shyama Prasad Mukerjee); Kashmir: The Storm Center of The World; Bungling in Kashmir; Kargil and Indo-Pak Relations; Rationale of Hindu State; Jeet Ya Haar (in Hindi); Jindgi Ka Safar part 1/2/3; Kashmir Jeet mein Haar (in Hindi).

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