My Days With Deendayalji
By Prof. V.K. Malhotra

It has been 36 long years since Deendayalji passed away but his memories are still afresh in the hearts of thousands of party karyakartas who came in contact with him. It is not easy to paint his personality in words. Only a great man like him can be successful in describing his towering personality in words to some extent but for lesser mortals like us, it is almost impossible to do justice to this great ideologue.

Though he never owned a house or had a permanent residence but he used to live in Ajmeri Gate. When he became BJS(Bharatiya Jana sangh ) Genreal Secretary he lived in a single small room. In the second room was the national office of the BJS and in the third room was Delhi Pradesh BJS office. Later he moved to 30 Rajendra Prasad Road which was the official residence of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee those days.

I got the opportunity to keep in touch with him for more than fifteen years as I worked in several capacities, like secretary of the Jana Sangh, Corporation Member, member of City Council and also as Chief Executive Councilor. I recall many incidents with Deendayalji which gives us an idea how vital was discipline for the party in Jana Sangh days.

BJS or BJP has carved a distinct identity for itself by observing discipline and maintaining a balance between party prospects and individual aspirations. Differences existed even in the times of Deendayalji and party leaders had their share of ambitions as well. Deendayalji was always sympathetic to the grievances of party karyakartas and leaders as well. But if any karyakarta ever dared to cross the Lakshmanrekha he never hesitated in taking action against the offender. He always gave ample time to the offenders to realise their mistake but never allowed things to go out of his hands. He always encouraged freedom of thought and had full respect for different opinions. But he effectively countered anyone who threatened the party to get his demands met. I can recall one incident when his tough nature came out in full view.

Lala Harichand was a renowned personality and a very senior prant sanghachalaka of the RSS (Rashitrya Swayamsewak Sangha) in Delhi . He was elected as a member of the Corporation in 1958 elections .Shri Kidar Nath Sahani became the Alderman. I also got elected as a member in this election. There were 28 members elected from BJS, Congress had 32 Communist parties had 8 and independents 12. Six Aldermen were also elected, out of which 2 were from BJS,2 from the Congress and 2 independents including Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali. Lala Harichand being the senior most and the most respectable leader was made the patron of the party in Corporation. Shri Shahani was elected as the Party Leader and I became the Chief Whip.

In the year 1959-1960 Corporation Committees were to be elected and among all the committees the Standing Committee holds an important position. It was decided either it should be constituted by consensus or through elections contested in alliance with the independents. Lala Harichand wanted to contest elections for the Standing Committee. In a fit of anger Lalaji declared that if he was not allowed to contest the elections he would quit the party. We did not know how to react on this issue. It was not easy to talk to the senior most member, Sanghachalak and celebrity in Delhi like him about it. When Deendayalji came to know about it he immediately wrote a letter to the Leader of the party, Shri Kidar Nath Sahani as under:

"I have come to know that Lala Harichand has said that if he was not given a chance to contest elections for Head of the Standing Committee, he would quit the party. It is very unfortunate and I didn't expect this from him. Therefore it is important to find out a solution to this problem of indiscipline. I wish that you meet him personally and find out the truth. If Lalaji has only one priority of getting into the Standing Committee then we should reconsider our decision. We never evaluated him so low. How long would we be able to keep such people into our fold by paying such a price? If Lalaji gives more weight to his resignation threatt then Shri Sahadev should be asked to contest elections."

I carried this letter to Lala Harichand. He read the letter and his eyes got wet. He wrote back : "I am very sorry for my words which made you sad. I would like to make it clear that I never wanted to create this unpleasant situation."

I think that in Deendayaljis letter where he said , "How long we would be able to keep people into our fold by paying such a price" is deeply inspiring to all of us. It is a source of inspiration in the present times where big or small leaders try to vent their feelings of exasperation through electronic media. We all must draw inspiration from Deendayalji's style of functioning where he never put up with any indiscipline yet at the same time he always touched the heart of all party Karyakartas by giving them full respect.