Pondicherry, Oct 27: Pondicherry Lt Governor K R Malkani died here today of cardiac arrest, official sources said. He was 82.
Born on November 19, 1921 in Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province, Malkani dominated the ideological battle ground of BJP and its predecessor Jan Sangh and prevented it from shifting too far to the liberal Hindutva from hardline position coupled with the concept of powerful "akhand bharat."
A former editor of RSS mouthpiece "Organiser" between 1949 and 1983, Malkani served the Sangh Parivar faithfully for decades and became the Governor of Pondicherry last year.
A teacher, a journalist and a researcher, he was associated with Congress and Students' Federation between 1939 and 1941 before joining the RSS of which he later became the pracharak. He was also the editor of RSS newspaper "Motherland" from 1971 till it was close in 1975.
Bureau Report