Samajwadi Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away on 10th October 2022, after battling a prolonged illness. He was admitted to Medanta hospital in Gurugram. His condition was critical from the past few weeks, and he was on life-saving drugs. On Tuesday, he was cremated in his native village of Saifai, Uttar Pradesh. The cremation is slated for 3 p.m., according to the party. Several chief ministers and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla are likely to attend the funeral.
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in Saifai on Monday evening as Yadav’s lifeless remains were transported to his ancestral house. According to an official statement issued in Lucknow, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was among the leaders who visited Saifai the day before and paid tribute to Yadav.
Here are the top 5 things to know about the Samajwadi Supremo:
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The Yadav feuds cost him the PM seat:
After VP Singh declined the offer to be Prime Minister and the CPI(M) decided on Jyoti Basu taking the helm, then-CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet offered Mulayam to lead the United Front government.
Image Source: Jansatta
The 13-day government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee had collapsed, and Congress had declined to take the lead in building a new government. That’s when the United Front entered the picture.
Surjeet fought hard for Mulayam, who was then 56, but neither Lalu Prasad Yadav nor Sharad Yadav was impressed as they felt a fellow Yadav from the Janta Dal would nix their plans to be the PM. Lalu was also running, but the fodder fraud had derailed his plans.
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How He Used UP As His Akara And Held His Clan Together:
He was a national leader for decades, but UP remained the “akhara” where Yadav performed his politics, beginning as a youngster influenced by socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia.
Image Source: OpIndia
Even after he was no longer the SP president – the mantle was passed on to his son Akhilesh Yadav in 2017 – the patriarch was still referred to as “Netaji,” the leader, by party workers. His presence on the scene was the glue that held the Yadav clan together.
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The Open-Minded Socialist:
Yadav, a “socialist,” was open to political possibilities. He had been linked with several parties, including Lohia’s Sanyukt Socialist Party, Charan Singh’s Bharatiya Kranti Dal, Bharatiya Lok Dal, and the Samajwadi Janata Party. In 1992, he established his SP. Yadav made deals with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Congress whenever it was necessary to build or save his governments in Uttar Pradesh.
Image Source: ABP News
In 2019, Netaji surprised everyone by praising Narendra Modi in Parliament and expressing his desire for him to return as Prime Minister after the next election. This was when his party recognised Modi’s BJP as its key challenger in Uttar Pradesh. Analysts were perplexed by the remark.
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The Wrestling MLA:
According to the narrative, Nathu Singh, the Socialist Party MLA from Jaswantnagar, asked him to run for the seat in the next election. After meeting Mulayam at a wrestling match, he was impressed.
Image Source: Jansatta
Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency during his second term as MLA from the same constituency, and Yadav, like many other opposition leaders, was imprisoned.
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Boys Will Be Boys:
When the Delhi gang rape of 2012 occurred, he made shocking remarks. Mulayam opposed the change in the rape law by saying, “Boys will be boys. Boys commit mistakes.” Moreover, in 2015 he stated that gang rapes are impractical and that the rape victims lied.
Source: News18
The Indian media condemned his remarks, women’s organisations, women’s rights activists, Ujjwal Nikam, the public prosecutor in the Shakti Mills gang rape case, Bollywood celebrities, and a substantial section of Uttar Pradesh people.
