BJP became largest party because of leaders like M L Khurana: J P Nadda

The BJP has become the largest political party of the world because of its leaders like former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, party chief JP Nadda said on Saturday.

The BJP has become the largest political party of the world because of its leaders like former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana who never wavered from their ideology and commitment towards people, party chief JP Nadda said on Saturday.

Nadda asked party leaders and workers to learn from Khurana's life, and said he was involved in political struggles and also provided solutions to different issues.

"BJP which is now the world's largest political party was founded by such stalwarts such as Khurana who never wavered from their ideology and showed a deep commitment towards people," he said delivering the first Madan Lal Khurana Memorial Lecture.

The BJP chief added that a true tribute to Khurana would be to seek inspiration from him as he was never associated with gaining power, and was committed to ideology and serving people.

"Leaders like Khurana of our party were struggling for ideology at a time when they had nothing to lose," Nadda said while citing Khurana's months long jail term during the Emergency.

He claimed that more than one lakh political activists were jailed during the Emergency imposed by the Congress and among them, around 70,000 were affiliated to the saffron ideology.

Khurana was called the "lion of Delhi" because he never shied away from putting across his views and also because of his unflinching commitment to go to any extent to serve people, Nadda said.

"During the 1984 riots, the then president Zail Singh had approached Khurana for the safety of Sikhs," he said and added that Khurana after becoming the chief minister of Delhi came up with the Justice Narula Committee that tried to provide justice to the riot victims.

The BJP president described Khurana as a leader whose heart lied in Delhi and who worked tirelessly for the city's people, providing them with educational institutions, universities and conceiving the Metro rail service in the national capital.

Recalling the stabbing of an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad candidate during a Delhi University Students Union election, Nadda said Khurana not only ensured action but also reached early in the morning at the hospital to enquire about the candidate's health.