Bharatiya Janata Party paid rich homage to the son of soil and founder leader of Praja Parishad Balraj Madhok, who left for his heavenly abode recently at New Delhi at the age of 96. BJP State President & MLA Sat Sharma said that Madhok belonged to a family having roots in Jammu and his father worked in the services of the Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir. He was born in Feburary 1920 at Skardu, Baltistan while his father was posted there. He studied at Srinagar and Prince of Wales College (Now GGM Science College) Jammu and finally graduated from DAV College Lahore in 1940. Inspired and motivated with nationalism he joined Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and was appointed as a Pracharak in 1942. He was assigned the Jammu & Kashmir State for establishing RSS there. He returned to Jammu in 1942 and began the process of establishing RSS network in the State. At the time of tribal attacks in 1947 he was working in Kashmir and fought against the tribals with 200 RSS volunteers. He founded Praja Parishad at Jammu in November 1947 along with Pt Prem Nath Dogra demanding complete unification of the State with India and opposed any special status for it. He was externed from Jammu & Kashmir by Sheikh Abdullah in 1948 on account of his political belief. He moved initially to Punjab and then to Delhi where he became active in national politics.
Elaborating further Sat Sharma said, “Balraj Madhok was an inspirational leader, a nationalist to the core and a true patriot. He chose teaching as his profession because he believed that he could ignite young minds with the fervour of nationalism. He launched Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) in 1951. He was also a founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He was elected as a Member of Lok Sabha from Delhi in 1961. He was chosen as President of the party in 1966. He was also jailed during the emergency for 18 months.” In the death of Balraj Madhok the nation has lost a uncompromising nationalist leader, an independent thinker, a prolific writer and columnist, said Sat Sharma.
