By IANS
New Delhi : Former vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) J.P. Mathur died of a protracted illness early Saturday here. He was 86.
A former member of the Rajya Sabha, Mathur was cremated at the Lodhi Road crematorium in the afternoon amid chanting of Vedic `shlokas’.
Senior BJP leaders, led by party president Rajnath Singh, leader of opposition L.K. Advani, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, party general secretaries Arun Jaitely and Ravi Shankar Prasad and other senior leaders were present at the crematorium, besides hundreds of other BJP supporters.
Former prime minister and senior BJP leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who has not been keeping well, condoled Mathur’s death in a message.
Mathur joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1944 and became a ‘pracharak’ and remained a bachelor all his life. He would often say that he started off in politics as a follower of M.N. Roy, who was a philosopher, political theorist and an exponent of radical humanism. Roy was a communist leader, though he later denounced communism.
Mathur was also one of the founder members of the BJP and remained a member of the national executive of the party till the end.
His body was kept at the party office for several hours for the party members to pay homage to their departed leader. There was a steady stream of visitors.
Mathur was considered close to Advani as he shared an accommodation in the party office during the early Jana Sangh days with the leader of opposition.
He would often relate anecdotes of how he, Advani and another BJP leader Sunder Singh Bhandari spent their time together during the early days of Jana Sangh.
Mathur shot into prominence after Advani became the BJP president in 1986.