In seniority in the BJP leadership team, V K Malhotra, who passed into the ages this week, was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, notes Sudhir Bisht.
In the passing away of Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the country has lost an erudite and sensible leader who in 1967 served Delhi as the chief executive councillor of Delhi's Metropolitan Council, a position that was equivalent to the Delhi chief minister of the present era.
In seniority in the BJP leadership team, he was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh.
At one point in time, he was far ahead in terms of the BJP's leadership pecking order as compared to Madan Lal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma. He was not as combative as Mr. Khurana who had a solid Punjabi support base among Delhi's electorate.
He also didn't have the massive support of any one very influential community like Mr. Verma had over the Jat voters of Delhi.
No wonder then that Dr. Malhotra got left behind in the race to become the Delhi CM, when an opportunity arose in 1993.
Surprisingly, he was never offered any ministerial position in the first Janata Party government (1977) that was led by Morarji Desai or when Atalji became the PM (from 1998 to 2004).
What could be the reason for his falling behind? Well, Dr Malhotra was not into the hurly-burly of power politics. In my assessment he never was
He was a deep thinker, a very competent speaker and a good administrator. He, however, lacked the competitive spirit that was there in good measure in BJP stalwarts like Madan Lalji, Sahib Singhji, Vijay Goelji and even Dr Harshvardhanji.
Even though Dr Malhotra may not have shone very brightly as a political climber, he was well respected by Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.
Even Vijay Goel who at a young age became Mr. Malhotra's competitor in some way, always gave full respect to him.
Dr Malhotra's PhD thesis was on the works of poet Sohan Lal Dwivedi, the same poet who wrote the iconic Hindi poem, Koshish Karne Walon Ki Haar Nahi Hoti.
The poem was recited by Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati and most people assume, incorrectly, that it must be written by his father, the poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan.
Dr Malhotra taught Hindi literature at the PGDAV college under the Delhi University for several decades. The relaxed college timing and long vacations may have helped Dr Malhotra to practise the art of his gentle politics.
He was much sought after in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan during election times as he was a reasonably good speaker. He was certainly below Mr. Vajpayee but definitely a notch or two above Mr. Advani and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi.
His voice was strong and had a bit of baritone in it and the contents of his speeches were always well researched.
He seldom used harsh words against his opponents, save once when he took an unkind jibe at Dr Manmohan Singh whom he defeated in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from the South Delhi seat.
It was a different era when political opponents didn't hate one another.
Dr Malhotra saw BJP leaders much junior occupy important positions -- ministerial as well as gubernatorial -- after the BJP's steady rise in the 21st century.
Even though the top BJP leadership respected Dr Malhotra, he never sought any favours from anybody. He was resigned to fading away slowly and without much attention.
Mr. Vajpayee and Dr Malhotra were the only ones from the Bharatiya Jana Sangh who addressed the mammoth Delhi Ramlila ground rally in 1977 along with Jayaprakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar and Jagjivan Ram.
That was alas the last high point in his political journey.
He was set for a revival in 2008 when the BJP announced him as the chief ministerial face in the Delhi assembly elections.
Though he won his seat from the Greater Kailash constituency, the BJP lost to the Congress party in the elections.
Dr Malhotra took on the role of leader of the Opposition in the Delhi assembly in 2008, after resigning his Lok Sabha seat.
Dr Malhotra was a five-time MP and a two-time MLA but the first and the last time he held a seat of power was way back in 1967.
Apart from being a gentlemen politician and a respected professor, Dr Malhotra was a reputed sports administrator. He was the founder of the Archery Association of India.
His daughter Anupama was one year junior to me at Hindu College. She too pursued BSc (Physics-Honours), like me.
I pay my homage to Dr V K Malhotra, the reticent party leader of the Delhi BJP.
Travel well, Dr Malhotra!
Dr Sudhir Bisht, author and columnist, writes from New Delhi.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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