BALRAJ MADHOK: RSS PRACHARAK AS CHRONICLER OF DE-GENERATION IN THE RSS
TOP BRASS
Shamsul Islam
With
Balraj Madhok's death on May 2, 2016 an era of old guards of Hindutva politics
comes to an end. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome
tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for
being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological
commitment was strong & clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted
to the nation & society. [I] had the good fortune of interacting with
Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal
condolence message signed by the supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all
swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society
in less than 4 lines. It is intriguing that memory of Madhok was being reduced
to being a leader of Jan Sangh. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his
organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. This
reductionist attitude of the present RSS leadership towards his contributions
to the politics of RSS is the outcome of a design to hide Madhok's role as a
chronicler of the degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high
echelons of the RSS in 1970s and 80s.
Balraj
Madhok needs no introduction in Indian politics, especially of the Hindutva
variety. Born in 1920 in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan), he was closely associated
with the RSS, most of the times functioning as a prominent organizer since
1942. As RSS pracharak he was the in-charge of Jammu & Kashmir State in
pre-Partition days, the responsibility that he continued to hold till 1948 when
he was ordered to leave the state by the Shiekh Abdullah Government. In Delhi,
he edited the English organ of the RSS, Organizer, founded student
organization of the RSS, ABVP, in 1948, and teamed up with Shyama Prasad
Mukherji in establishing political wing of the RSS, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS)
in 1951. He held the crucial posts of All India Secretary of the BJS
(1951-1965), presidentship of Delhi BJS (1954-1963) and all this culminated in
his taking over as President of All India BJS (1965-1967). It was during his
stewardship of All India BJS that the party made significant gains in the
general elections of 1968 by reducing Congress in minority in many states. He
was elected to the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha, twice (1961
& 1967) from Delhi.
Madhok
despite his busy life as politician wasanindefatigable writer too, and is known
for his controversial political writings. In fact, he was mainly responsible
for articulating the Hindutva’s ideological response to the problem of
minorities specially Muslims by propounding the theory of ‘Indianization’ in
1969. Madhok also penned his autobiographical writings —Zindagi Ka Safar
–1 and Zindagi Ka Safar–2, the first two volumes of his journey of life
appeared in 1994. It is after 9 years that third volume in this series, Zindagi
Ka Safar –3: Deendayal Upadhyay Ki Hatya Se Indira Gandhi Ki Hatya Tak
(Journey of Life-3: From the Murder of Deendayal Upadhyay to the Murder of
Indira Gandhi) was published. This volume was full of shocking incidents and
explosive facts concerning RSS. The canvass of this part of the autobiography
covered political happenings between 1968 and 1984, starting with the
controversial death of newly appointed President of BJS, Deendayal Upadhyay
and ending with the death of Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. It is true
that issues and controversies raised in the 3rdvolume of Madhok's autobiography
were in public domain earlier also, but the first hand shocking facts presented
in this autobiography about the controversial death (which Madhok described as
murder) of prominent leader, ideologue and thinker of RSS, Deendayal Upadhyay
and the complicity of some of the then RSS cadres namely Atal Bihari Vajpayee
and Nana Deshmukh led to a hell of a controversy demanding explanations from
the concerned leaders. Madhok even held the then sarsanghchalak (supremo) of
RSS, Balasaheb Deoras guilty of shielding the above duo in their misdemeanors.
If Madhok's autobiography is to be believed then the RSS top brass had already
reached its nadir of degeneration. The most significant aspect of this
autobiography was that Balraj Madhok penned it as a living swayamsevak
(pracharak).
While
outlining the nature of his treatment of the incidents and facts in his autobiography,
Madhok wrote in the foreword, “I have tried to present the prominent
incidents of this stormy era, my experiences and their influence on me, Jan
Sangh and life of Nation with factual and objective narration and evaluation.
Being a student of history I have always kept in mind the universally accepted
principle of history, ‘facts are sacred’ though there may be different
interpretations.”
Madhokwas
of the firm view that Deendayal Upadhyay’s murder on February 1, 1968, was the
harbinger and beginning of a vicious rising storm which derailed the Jana
Sangh. Before unfolding the mystery of Upadhyay’s murder he raised few
questions:"Why was he murdered, who were the people involved in the
conspiracy, what was their aim and goal behind this conspiracy all this is
still shrouded in mystery. But all this will (surely) be unveiled as circumstantial
evidences about his murder are quite revealing.” (p. 14-15)
Madhok’s
autobiography aimed atexposing the conspiracy of Deendayal Upadhyay’s murder
by unveiling facts one by one, thus becoming a crucial legal document also.
While straightforwardly coming to the identity of the murderers of Deendayal Upadhyay
he made the following significant statement: "One thing is clear.
Behind the murder of Deendayal Upadhyay was neither the hand of Communists nor
of any thief...He was killed by a hired assassin. But conspirators who
sponsored this killing were those self-seekers and leaders with a criminal bent
of mind of Sangh-Jan Sangh." (p. 22)
The
autobiography went to tell of a concerted attempt by the killers to keep facts
under wraps:“Though those jealous self-seekers to whom the finger of
suspicion points, in conspiring the murder of Deendayal Upadhyay, are
benefitting by his name, but do not want truth of his murder to come out. However,
as a student of history I believe that the blood of Deendayal Upadhyay will be
avenged, history will do justice to him and those who conspired to kill him
will be subjected to a curse.” (p. 15)
This
autobiography written by a swayamsevakwas absolutely non-hesitant in pointing
fingers towards Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nana Deshmukh as main conspirators in
the murder of Deendayal Upadhyay, the president of BJS. He categorically
stated: “Information gathered from difference sources points the fingers of
suspicion in the murder of Deendayal Upadhyay towards them.” (p. 23)
According
to the autobiography, Deendayal Upadhyay was assassinated by those who were
kept out of leading positions of the BJS by Deendayal Upadhyay as president. It
is to be noted here that Deendayal Upadhyay after taking over presidentship of
BJS from BalrajMadhok in December 1967, had kept out both Atal Behari Vajpayee
and Nana Deshmukh from important posts. According to Madhok, Upadhyay was
murdered because, “he was constantly striving that ill-reputed people should
get no promotion in BJS, so that reputation of the organisation is not tarnished.
For this reason some characterless self-seeking people were finding him a stumbling
block in their path of self-seeking fulfillment.” (p. 145)
Who
these characterless self-seekers were, Madhok minced no words in telling their
names. According to the autobiography, even Madhok was familiar with them as
President of BJS. According to him: “Some time back when I was the President
of Jana Sangh, Jagdish Prasad Mathur, in-charge of the Central Office, who was
staying with Atal Behari at 30, Rajendra Prasad Road, had complained to me that
Atal had turned that house into a den of immoral activities. Every day new
girls were coming there. Things were getting out of hand. So as a senior leader
of Jana Sangh I have dared to bring to your notice this fact. I had some
information about character of Atal, but the situation had deteriorated so
much, I did not know. I called Atal to my residence and in a closed room
inquired from him about matters raised by Jagdish Prasad Mathur. The
explanation he offered further proved the facts conveyed by Jagdish Prasad
Mathur. Then I suggested to him that he should get married, otherwise, he was
bound to get a bad name, and the reputation of Jan Sangh was also bound to
suffer.” (p. 25)
As a
close and keen observer of developments in BJS in the immediate post Deendayal
Upadhyay period he was astonished to find that a dominant section of the RSS
leadership was bent upon making Atal Behari Vajpayee President of BJS. This
was happening despite the fact that Madhok did bring all these facts to the
notice of the then sarsanghchalak of RSS, MS Golwalkar. According to the
account given in the autobiography the meeting took place in Delhi in early
1970. “After listening to my talk he [Golwalkar] kept quiet for some time
and then said — ‘I know of the weaknesses of the character of these people. But
I have to run an organization. I have to take everybody together, so like Shiva
I drink poison everyday.’” (p. 62)
The
autobiography went on to relate developments which seemed to be replicating
some Mughal court intrigues. "It has been the tradition of Jana Sangh
that if the president expires before completing his term, senior vice-president
is given the responsibility for the rest of the term. So I thought that Shri
Pitamber Das or Principal Dev Prasad Ghosh will be given this responsibility.
Atal Behari Vajpayee was nowhere in the reckoning (Atal Behari Vajpayee kisi
ginti maen nahin thaa). I was stunned when informed that Sangh leaders
wanted to make Atal Behari Vajpayee President.
“Immediately after becoming President he removed Jagannath Joshi
from the important post of organization in-charge (sangathan mantri)
and appointed Nana Deshmukh to this post. Thus two persons, who got immediate
benefit from the murder of Shri Upadhyay, were those about whom Shri Upadhyay
during the tenures of his General Secretaryship and Presidentship had adopted
a conscious policy of keeping away from important posts.”(pp. 16-17)
Balraj
Madhok in his autobiography made serious allegations against Atal Behari
Vajpayee and Nana Deshmukh for thwarting any investigation about the real murderer
of Deendayal Upadhyay. According to him whatever public posture RSS might have
taken about Upadhyay’s death, Atal Behari Vajpayee treated it as a simple
accident. When Madhok entered into a debate with Atal Behari Vajpayee on this
issue, he retorted in following words, as quoted in the autobiography; “Deendayal
was a hot-headed (jhagraloo) person, might have picked a fight with
someone in the train and in the scuffle got pushed out and died, do not call it
murder.” (p. 16)
Madhok also goes on to narrate in
details how both Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nana Deshmukh tried to mislead
Chanderchud Commission of Enquiry which was constituted to find the truth about
Upadhyay’s death. “When Chandrachud Commission started the enquiry I was informed
that BJS President (Atal Behari Vajpayee) has given the whole responsibility of
presenting Jan Sangh’s case before the Commission to Nana Deshmukh so from Jan
Sangh side only those would appear as witnesses who have been cleared (picked)
by Nana Deshmukh and without his permission no other member of Jan Sangh should
go to appear as witness. I was expecting that I will surely be presented before
the Commission but I did not figure in the list of witnesses presented by Nana
Deshmukh...In such a situation Chandrachud Commission failed in unraveling the
mystery of this murder. The attitude which was adopted by Atal Behari Vajpayee
and Nana Deshmukh in relation to the enquiry commission and the kind of
witnesses presented can only draw this conclusion that instead of unveiling the
truth they were interested in a cover up.” (p 19)
Madhok
also found the hand of Balasaheb Deoras, who became sarsanghchalak of RSS after
M S Golwalkar, in the murder of Deendayal Upadhyay. According to him, “after
becoming the president of BJS the stature of Shri Deendayal Upadhyay grew
further. Then the possibility that hemight become the next sarsanghchalak of RSS used to be
expressed. This possibility was unacceptable to some of theself-seeking Sangh
people, specially BalasahebDeoras. They started feeling that due to Deendayal their
chances of furtheradvancement might bejeopardized. Possibly, thisis the reason
that after themurder of Deendayal, he not only took direct interest in making
Atal BehariVajpayee President ofJana Sangh but alsohelped in covering up
themurder of Deendayal. He wanted me to stop talking about it as a murder and describe
it as an accidentlike him. But I was notready to hide a fact witnessed by my
own eyes and verified.” (p. 21)
This autobiography also highlighted the degenerated
personal and political life of Balasaheb Deoras. Referring to the Emergency
days of 1975, it goes on to tell that, “Sarsanghchalak of the Sangh,
Shri Bala Saheb Deoras was held under MISA. In contrast to the life of struggle
and idealism of Shri Golwalkar, he was fond of good living. That is the reason
that he wrote two letters on August 22, 1975 and November 10, 1975 to Indira
Gandhi for reconsidering her attitude towards the Sangh and lifting the ban
from it. He also wrote a letter to Shri Vinoba Bhave requesting him to try to
remove from Indira Gandhi’s heart anti [Sangh] feelings." (p. 188-189)
According to the autobiography, Atal Behari Vajpayee
and company continued to make all kinds of efforts to finish off his political
career. They even succeeded in expelling him from the primary membership of BJS
in 1973. Madhokwas bitter about L. K. Advani who allowed him to be a puppet in
this vicious game. Madhok wrote that his expulsion was “an immoral,
unconstitutional and criminal act. In this Sarkaryavah of the Sangh,
Balasaheb Deoras, and some other parcharaks including Madho Rao Mulay
and organising secretaries played a prominent role. They used Atal as a shield
and Advani as a puppet.” (p. 144)
Madhok reserved special mention for ‘Iron Man’ of Hindutva,
LK Advani. “The position of Lal Krishan Advani was like a puppet. He was not
qualified for the post [presidentship of BJS] which was given to him after
discarding many senior workers. I knew through my personal experience that he
is a boneless wonder. He has neither personal integrity nor opinion. But he is
lucky. The office which he had got due to the offerings (prasad) of Vajpayee
and officials of Sangh, keeping aside its honour, he acted as a bonded
labourer, for any work assigned to him.” (p. 146)
This autobiography is significant in many respects.
Firstly, if there is even an iota of truth in the charges levelled by Balraj
Madhok, who was no small fry and a leading light of the Hindutva brigade
then how safe is India in the hands of the present ruling clique can very well
be guessed. These are serious allegations and need national investigation.
If these were lies then it needed to be shared with
the nation and Balraj Madhok brought to book. Secondly, it was not for the
first time that serious allegations of indulgence in criminal activities by
important individuals/organisations of the Hindutva camp surfaced. The
Gujarat carnage showed that criminal minds were leading the ruling party. This
autobiography traces the roots of this dehumanization and degeneration.
Thirdly, this autobiography once again proved that Hindutva is no
Parivar with a healthy mind and body. It is a ruthless gang of power seekers
which can go to any length for its kill. Like any fascist set up it is packed
with people who specialize in treachery, debauchery and self-destruction.
Deendayal Upadhyay ki haththya se Indira
Gandhi ki haththya tak by Balraj
Madhok (which is part 3 of his Zindagi ka Safar) is available from Dinman Prakashan, 3014 Charkhaywalan, Delhi-110006.
Shamsul Islam
May 3, 2016
For some of S.
Islam's writings in English, Hindi, Urdu & Gujarati see the following link:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook: shams shamsul
Twitter:
@shamsforjustice
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