Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away

Samajwadi Party founder and three-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who spawned the state’s most prominent political clan and played a key role on the national stage, died on Monday after prolonged illness. He was 82. The former defence minister was admitted to Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital in August and shifted to its Intensive Care Unit on October 2. “My respected father and ‘Netaji’ to all is no more,” his son Akhilesh Yadav said in a tweet.

Condolences poured in from across the political spectrum and UP’s BJP government announced a three-day mourning. In the evening, the body arrived in Safai, his native village near Etawah, and was kept in a “pandal” for people who thronged for a “darshan”. The village falls in Jaswantnagar, the constituency from where he was elected to the state assembly the first time in 1967, representing Ram Manohar Lohia’s Sanyukt Socialist Party.

PM Modi led the nation in paying tributes to Mulayam Singh Yadav. Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat, paid respects in his public address at Bharuch. He described Mulayam’s demise as a big loss to the country. “As chief ministers, when we used to meet, there was a feeling of mutual regard and closeness,” he said.

Modi said that after the BJP nominated him as the prime ministerial candidate in 2013, he had reached out to senior political leaders of the opposition whom he knew earlier to seek their blessing. “I still remember the words of blessings of Mulayam Singh ji, a couple of words of advice, which remain a treasure even today,” he added.

Modi recalled that during the last session of the last Lok Sabha, ahead of the 2019 general election, Mulayam had said, without any political prejudice on the floor of Parliament, that “Modiji carries everyone along and hence I am sure that he will be elected again as prime minister in the 2019 election.”

Senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul, Priyanka and Manmohan Singh were among those who paid their tributes. Former PM Manmohan Singh, whose government’s Lok Sabha floor test over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal issue was saved by Mulayam’s somersault, said, “He was a leader of high esteem who was respected by everybody irrespective of party lines. Hwas an icon of the socialist movement and had been elected to the Uttar Pradesh state assembly and to the Lok Sabha several times. He was a great parliamentarian and a distinguished administrator who devoted his whole life to the service of the poor and other backward communities.”

The Rahul Gandhi led Bharat Jodo Yatra held a five-minute condolence meet to pay floral tributes to the departed leader. “The death of Shri Mulayam Singh Yadavji is very sad news,” said Rahul.

“He was a true warrior, associated with grassroots politics. I express my deepest condolences to all the bereaved family members, including Shri Akhilesh Yadav.”

Home minister Amit Shah, who admired Mulayam as a political leader, said, “He will always be remembered as a grassroots leader. His death marks the end of an era in Indian politics."

In UP, CM Yogi Adityanath announced a three-day state mourning and directed that Yadav’s last rites be carried out with state honours. He also visited Saifai to pay his last respects.

J&K LG Manoj Sinha said Yada’s death is an irreparable loss to Indian politics. Former CM of J&K and MP from Srinagar, Farooq Abdullah, said Yadav was a towering leader who the country desperately needed in the current times. PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti said the country has lost a great leader who stood for Hindu-Muslim brotherhood and against the communal forces.

(With PTI Inputs)