Balraj Madhok, Indian politician, Died at 96

Balraj Madhok was born on February 25, 1920, and died on May 2, 2016

He was an activist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and a president of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and a senior politician of India in 1960s.

He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1938, which he found to be close to the Arya Samaj way of thinking.

Balraj Madhok became a pracharak (full-time worker) for the RSS in 1942 and was sent as a pracharak to Jammu and Kashmir for establishing the RSS there.

Balraj stayed in Jammu for two years building up the RSS network.

Madhok moved to Srinagar in 1944 as a lecturer in history at the DAV College and continued to build the RSS network there.

After the Hindu refugees began arriving in Srinagar after the Partition, they also joined the RSS branches.

Balraj Madhok moved to Delhi in 1948 and started teaching at the Panjab University College

Balraj Madhok joined Shyama Prasad Mookerjee in the formation of what later become the political party of the Sangh Parivar, in 1951, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

At the start of his expulsion in 1973, Madhok remained a pungent critic of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and their policies.

Before his death, he resided in New Rajinder Nagar area of New Delhi.

Balraj Madhok passed away at 96 yrs old.