By Ananya Sharma 
New Delhi, September 30:
Vijay Kumar Malhotra is gone. The BJP veteran professor, parliamentarian, and sports administrator died in Delhi on Monday morning at AIIMS. He was in his nineties. Ninety-three, some said. Ninety-four, others insisted. People were already arguing the number outside his Greater Kailash home, but nobody doubted the scale of the loss.
Lahore Roots, Delhi Soil
He was born in Lahore, 1931. Partition uprooted him. Like so many families, the Malhotras arrived in Delhi carrying a past they could never return to. That experience shaped him. He never forgot what it meant to start over from scratch. Colleagues often said he organised politics the same way he rebuilt his life one brick at a time, steady hands, no shortcuts.
By the time the Jana Sangh turned into the BJP, Malhotra was already a known face. He became the first president of the party’s Delhi unit. Those early years weren’t glamorous. Meetings in cramped halls, borrowed chairs, party notes scribbled on loose sheets. He thrived in that space.
The Famous Election
Ask anyone about Malhotra’s career, and the year 1999 comes up immediately. South Delhi. He faced Manmohan Singh, the economist who would later be Prime Minister. Singh had stature, intellect, and Congress machinery behind him. Malhotra beat him.
It stunned the Congress and gave BJP workers a story they would repeat for years. Even today, old karyakartas recall how the celebration spilled into the streets that night. Malhotra never made much noise about it afterward, but the victory defined him.
His Other Life: Archery
If you step out of politics, his second identity was just as strong. For over forty years, he ran the Archery Association of India. Players in far-off training camps in Jharkhand and Assam knew him by name. Some called him the “godfather of Indian archery.”
In 2012, when the Indian Olympic Association was suspended by the IOC, Malhotra was the man asked to hold the reins. It wasn’t glamorous work, but he steadied the ship. That was his way.
Crowds At GK
By afternoon, the lane outside his Greater Kailash residence was packed. Neighbours leaned from balconies, security men struggled to keep order, and BJP flags fluttered. Prime Minister Narendra Modi came, bowed before the body, and spoke quietly to the family. Later, on social media, he called Malhotra a mentor.
Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan sent a message of grief. Amit Shah, JP Nadda, and Delhi BJP leaders all paid their tributes. Even Congress veterans acknowledged his civility.
One BJP worker in his sixties, standing outside the house, told me, “For us, he was not a neta, he was family. He would call us at night, just to ask if we had chai during meetings. Who does that now?”
Old-School Politics
Malhotra never fit the template of today’s politician. He wasn’t flashy. He didn’t chase cameras. His car was ordinary, his speeches unpolished. He was known more for his meticulous notes and phone calls than for slogans.
Younger BJP leaders sometimes joked about his obsession with details. He once scolded a district organiser for forgetting to arrange enough chalk and duster for a booth meeting. It sounds trivial, but for him, politics was built on the basics.
Delhi Bids Farewell
His funeral will be held with state honours. The crowd will be heavy with BJP cadres, archery officials, and old friends who saw him grow from a refugee boy into a national leader.
With his passing, Delhi loses more than just a politician. It loses one of the last men who connected the Partition years to the BJP’s rise in power. He will be remembered as a professor turned leader, a refugee who rebuilt his world, and a sports administrator who gave a forgotten game its due.
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- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
Kavita Iyer