Former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana was without doubt the top most BJP leader from the capital who was instrumental in building the party in the city. He was immensely popular and as long as he was the face of the Saffron brigade, the BJP was always confident of humbling its opponents in the polls. Khurana was also one leader who won more elections than anybody else in Delhi; he had been victorious in ten out of 11 polls he contested, the only time he lost was in 1984 during the massive Congress wave following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. On Tuesday, his family and well-wishers celebrated his 88th birth anniversary, and going by the huge attendance, it was clear that he continues to be amongst the most respected leaders of the BJP. Khurana was phenomenal and many consider him amongst the top most leaders of the city, Chaudhury Brehm Prakash and HKL Bhagat being the others. Sheila Dikshit was the longest serving Chief Minister of Delhi but she was never a leader.
The party is nowhere after her tenure got over when she suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Arvind Kejriwal in the 2013 Assembly elections and forfeited her deposit in the process. Khurana had led his party to victory in the 1993 polls and ever since then the BJP has never won the Assembly, the closest being in 2013 when it obtained 32 out of 70 seats. Thereafter, the Kejriwal era commenced and the Aam Aadmi Party became the most formidable political outfit, relegating the Congress to the sidelines. The 2025 elections would be closely watched and many believe that AAP would be difficult to beat since both the BJP and the Congress do not have any popular face to project. Khurana, who could have brought back the Saffron Brigade to power, was let down by the then central leadership, comprising Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishan Advani. Both of them took a decision to reinstate him as the CM in October, 1998 and then at the behest of the late Pramod Mahajan brought in Sushma Swaraj to succeed Sahin Singh Verma, at the eleventh hour, thereby resulting in the complete rout of the BJP in 1998 elections which led to the elevation of Sheila Dikshit as the CM. In 2003, the party under Advani’s watch distributed the tickets in an arbitrary manner and when Khurana was poised to take over as the leader of opposition in the Delhi Assembly, he was packed off to Rajasthan as the Governor.
This is something which never went down well with the Delhi strongman, who kept saying that he did not wish to be put in a golden cage since he wanted to be amongst the people. In his own words, Khurana was the priest of the temple which was Delhi. Although the UPA came to power in 2004, Khurana was not changed till he resigned subsequently and went into political wilderness gradually. His exit from the political scene, marked the end of the Punjabi leadership of the party and no leader of his stature has been able to emerge and give political muscles to the BJP since then. It was the last time in 1993 when the BJP won, and the injustice meted to him was witnessed by the people who have never allowed to party to come to power. Now the question is that the BJP has been winning all the seven seats in the capital in parliamentary polls and therefore the expectations are high that it could again capture the Delhi government.
However, the AAP is a major stumbling block and could foil many designs the party may have. Khurana along with Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Kidar Nath Sahani constituted the troika of strong Punjabi leaders. In 1972 when there was an Indira wave, he was amongst the five Jana Sangh members of the Metropolitan Council, who emerged victorious, the other four included Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the then Chief Executive Councillor, the first Jana Sangh functionary to complete a full five-year term, and Daljit Tandon. Khurana never looked back and in 1977, was appointed the Executive Councillor, Health, a job he performed with distinction. Khurana served as the leader of opposition in the Metropolitan council from 1983 onwards, the time when he put the BJP on rails in the city. He was street fighter who never hesitating in opposing the policies of the Congress and remained immensely popular because of that. Khurana also won four times in the Lok Sabha elections and helped his colleagues to also emerge victorious.
Internal party politics made him a victim and thereby he passed away an unhappy person, who popularity remained undiminished amongst the people. Khurana’s exploits are a part of Delhi’s political folklore, and his party more than anyone else would have wanted someone like him to be the spearhead in these crucial times. He shall always be remembered as a true son of Delhi and the one who was always willing to help anyone who came to him. Khuranaji you shall always live in the hearts and minds of people.
