People gather to pay tribute to the mortal remains of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, at his native village Saifai in Etawah district, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. (PTI)SP Founder Mulayam Singh Yadav Last Rites Highlights: Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, who died while undergoing treatment at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram on Monday (October 10), was cremated at his native village Saifai in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and others attended the last rites of the former UP CM. Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and BJP leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi also paid their last respects to the leader at Saiafi ground.
Meanwhile, a sea of people gathered for the last rites of Mulayam Singh Yadav at his native Saifai village in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, amid the cloudy sky and intermittent morning drizzle. His mortal remains were brought to Saifai Monday evening. According to an official statement issued in Lucknow, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had reached Saifai and paid tributes to Yadav yesterday evening. He also paid floral tributes on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and the Uttar Pradesh government, the release said.
Yadav, born on November 22, 1939, rose in UP politics in a period of intense social and political ferment after the 1970s. Emerging as a socialist leader, Mulayam established himself as an OBC stalwart, capturing a swathe of political space vacated by the Congress. He first took oath as UP’s 15th CM in 1989, which marked the year when the Congress was voted out, failing to return to power in the state ever since.
His politics might have seen twists and turns, but two things remained constant in Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s parliamentary career: his stand on “China’s threat to India” and his opposition to the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Yadav was first elected as an MP in 1996 from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri, a constituency he won five times including in the 2019 elections. Read more
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who attended the last rites of Mulayam Singh Yadav, said: "We had a very strong relationship. Mulayam Singh Yadav was a big personality in Indian politics, it is a huge loss for the country. We all have come here to pay our tribute to him. PM Modi could not come here but he asked me to pay tribute on his behalf."
Last rites of former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav being performed at his ancestral village, Saifai in Uttar Pradesh.
Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, who died while undergoing treatment at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram on Monday (October 10), was cremated at his native village Saifai in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and others attended the last rites of the former UP CM.
Actor Abhishek Bachchan, along with his mother actor Jaya Bachchan -- who is also a Samajwadi Party MP, reaches the ancestral village Saifai to pay their last respects to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
'Antim darshan of Mulayam Singh Yadav at Saifai Mela ground has concluded. His body has been taken for cremation.
(PTI photos)
As huge crowds gathered in the pandal trying to reach the stage, Shivpal Singh Yadav appealed to maintain peace and order. He said that body will be taken for cremation soon.
Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu paid last respects to Mulayam Singh Yadav, at Saifai in Uttar Pradesh.
(PTI Photos)
'Antim darshan of Mulayam Singh Yadav started at UP's Saifai Mela Ground. Etawah district magistrate Avanish Rai paid tribute first on behalf of the President of India, followed by Mulayam's brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ramgopal Yadav, and other SP leaders including Swami Prasad Maurya, Kiranmoy Nanda, and Ram Govind Chaudhary. BJP leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi too paid tributes to Mulayam.
The Congress on Tuesday deputed Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath to represent the party at the funeral of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah. Yadav's cremation will be held at his native place today evening.
(PTI Photo)
Even death cannot destroy two things — the soul and memory. Memories emerge from the kritya (acts) of a person. Mulayam Singh Yadav will live on in the hearts and minds of people through his political acts.
Mulayam Singh, popularly known as Netaji, was the typical zameeni neta (grass roots-level leader). In the early years of his political career in Uttar Pradesh, he would go from village to village, sleep in khet- khaliyans and often eat lai-chana. The matti (soil) was a running theme throughout his life. He grew up in the soil of the akhada as a wrestler and then planted his politics in the soil itself and, for his entire political life, tried to speak for the backward, marginalised and minority groups. Badri Narayan writes
As always, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s return to his village Saifai in UP’s Etawah drew hundreds of followers. They formed a queue nearly 5-km long on both sides of the road, their mobile cameras on, jostling to reach the bungalow painted in white to get a glimpse of their “Netaji”. But this time, the mood was sombre, the chatter muted, broken only by slogans of “Netaji Amar Rahein”.
For, inside the bungalow was Mulayam’s body, brought by his son Akhilesh Yadav, brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and cousin Ram Gopal Yadav, from a Delhi hospital where the SP founder breathed his last Monday morning.
Lalmani Verma reports
If the first generation of leaders of Uttar Pradesh — as indeed of other parts of the country — were freedom fighters; the second generation — which emerged from the late sixties onward — were street fighters. Many of these leaders were socialists who cut their political teeth on campuses, fought vigorously for people’s causes, and acquired stature during and after the Emergency.
Mulayam Singh Yadav was the tallest and most prominent leader of this generation — a man who set new rules and benchmarks for political action in UP and, to a significant extent, other parts of North India as well. His passing marks the end of an era.
Shyamlal Yadav writes
Leaders cutting across opposition parties condoled the death of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday. While former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Singh was a leader of high esteem who was respected by everybody irrespective of party lines, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said “the voice of socialist ideas has fallen silent” with his demise.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said “Yadav gave a strong ideology to Samajwadi Party to stand strong against communal forces and worked towards creating a socialist society”, while Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar said Yadav was a “towering socialist leader who never compromised with the interests of the poor and the farmers”. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said “the socialist leader will always be remembered for his contribution to uplift the downtrodden”. Read more
Remembering Mulayam Singh Yadav, political cartoonist E P Unny shares an old sketch of the leader.
FROM THE time he made the transition from the wrestling arena to the floor of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 1967 on the ticket of the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), Mulayam Singh Yadav never looked back. He was among the crop of first-timers who won that year in the state from communities falling under the category of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), including Kalyan Singh. If 44 seats were won by the SSP, which brought together the farming communities of the state, 98 were won by the BJP’s precursor Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Read more
In the course of his remarkable political career spanning more than five decades, the Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav inducted his several family members and relatives into politics and his party, who also got elected to the two Houses of the UP Legislature or Parliament over the years. However, in the last six years of his life, Mulayam received a personal setback when his family got split in two camps due to the conflicting political ambitions of its members. Read more
When the Samajwadi Party (SP) completed 30 years of its formation on October 4, its founder patron Mulayam Singh Yadav was in hospital, battling for his life. He died six days later.
To his followers and old friends, many of whom visited the veteran in his last days, it was the end of an era of close associations, despite differences, and the culmination of a long journey of joint struggle.
Many of these old comrades, who were with Mulayam since the formation of the party, preceded him in death, including former Union ministers Janeshwar Mishra and Beni Prasad Verma, former MP Mohan Singh, former minister Bhagwati Singh and former party state president Ram Sharan Das. Party leaders point out that contrary to the accusation of Yadavs-only thrown at the SP, Mulayam had leaders from different castes and sections around him, giving him a wide base of support. Read more
Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away on Monday at a hospital in Gurugram after spending several days in the ICU. SP chief and Yadav’s son Akhilesh confirmed the news of the leader’s death on Twitter.
The founder of SP and three-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, rose in UP politics in a period of intense social and political ferment after the 1970s.
The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) had then started gaining political ascendancy in UP, leading to the sidelining of the Congress party dominated by upper-caste leaders. India’s most populous state was then also witnessing sharp communal polarisation in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s aggressive Ram Janmabhoomi Temple campaign. (Read more)
Popularly known as “Netaji” in political circles, the 82-year-old Mulayam Singh Yadav was a three-term Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who was elected to the state Assembly eight times and to Parliament seven times. The wrestler-turned-teacher-turned-politician also served as Union Defence Minister.
Belonging to Saifai village of Etawah district, Mulayam’s personal journey as a politician would come to be closely woven with the political history of UP, right from the era of Mandal-Kamandal politics in the 1980s and 1990s, till he transferred the reins to his son Akhilesh Yadav in 2012. (Read more)
Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra on Monday took a 5 min Shok Sabha for Mulayam Singh Yadav at 1 pm at a halt near Hiriyur, Chitradurga district in Karanataka.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday expressed grief over the demise of Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, and said he upheld Hindu-Muslim brotherhood and stood against communal forces.
"The country has lost a great leader who worked for the upliftment of poor throughout his life. He will be remembered for not only providing protection to the Muslims (in his state) but also empowering them,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. She said Yadav was among a small group of leaders who stood against communal forces and did not surrender before them.
“He always stood by the minorities and deprived communities. We should learn lessons from his life as the way he worked for Hindu-Muslim brotherhood and stood against communal forces who have become powerful in the country,” the PDP leader said. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin and several leaders condoled the demise of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, who died at a private hospital in Gurugram after prolonged illness on Monday.
Expressing his condolences, the Governor said, "Shri. Mulayam Singh Yadav was a great leader. His passing away has left a political vacuum in the country. May his soul rest in eternal peace." Chief Minister M K Stalin said he was saddened by the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
"One of the tallest figures in Indian Politics who stood for reservation for the OBC, Thiru Mulayam Singh was deeply committed to secular ideals. His death is an irreparable loss. I convey my heartfelt condolences to my brother @yadavakhilesh & his grieving family, and the cadre of @samajwadiparty," Stalin tweeted. (PTI)
Condoling the death of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that his demise is a major loss to the country and polity.
“I am deeply saddened to learn about the demise of the great national leader & founder of the Samajwadi Party, Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav ji. His passing is a major loss to our country and our polity. My deepest condolences to his family and his followers,” Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, tweeted. (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan on Monday mourned the demise of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. In a statement, the Governor expressed profound sadness over Yadav's death.
"Mulayam Singh Yadav was a long-time parliamentarian who served as the country's Defence Minister. He was also Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for three terms,” Harichandan said and extended his condolences to the bereaved family.
Popularly known as 'Netaji', Yadav played an important role in national politics and was revered by the marginalised sections and minorities, Chief Minister Reddy said in a separate statement. He expressed sorrow over the former UP Chief Minister's death.
Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu recalled his association with the Samajwadi Party leader. (PTI)
President Droupadi Murmu termed the demise of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday an “irreparable loss” to the country. She said the achievements of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who came from an ordinary environment, were extraordinary.
“The death of Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav is an irreparable loss to the country. The achievements of Mulayam Singh Yadav ji, who came from an ordinary environment, were extraordinary.
"'Dharti Putra' Mulayam ji was a veteran leader and was connected with the land. He was respected by people of all parties. My deepest condolences to his family members and supporters!” Murmu tweeted in Hindi. (PTI)
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday condoled the death of Samajwadi Party founder and former defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“Saddened by the passing away of Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh & Former Defence Minister of India Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav. My deepest condolences to the family. May God bestow Sadgati to the departed soul. Om Shanti,” Sawant tweeted.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday griefed Mulayam Singh Yadav's death and offered his condolences to the veteran leader's family.
In a tweet he said, "Mulayam Singh Yadav was a grassroots leader. When we worked as Chief Ministers of our respective states, there were many exchanges of views with Mulayam Singh ji on various issues. My condolences to the bereaved family and supporters on his sad demise."
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday expressed grief over the death of Samajwadi Party supremo and three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav and lauded his role in the development of UP. Shinde in his condolence message on Twitter said, "My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family of late Mulayam Singh Yadav. He played a vital role in the development of Uttar Pradesh.”
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will go to Saifai, Uttar Pradesh today to attend the last rites of Mulayam Singh Yadav, news agency ANI reported
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday offered condolences to Mulayam Singh Yadav's family after the veteran leader passed away this morning. In a letter addressed to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Singh wrote, 'I have learnt with profound sorrow the demise of your beloved father Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav ji today. He was a leader of high esteem who was respected by everybody irrespective of party lines. He was an Icon of the Socialist Movement and had been elected to the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly and to the Lok Sabha several times.'
'My wife joins me to convey to you and other members of your family our deepest condolences on this sad occasion. May God give all of you the strength to bear this great loss with courage and fortitude,' he added.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed grief over the death of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. In his condolence message, Kumar recounted the long political journey of Yadav who was the Defence Minister in the United Front government of 1990s, besides having served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh thrice.
"He was a towering socialist leader who never compromised with the interests of the poor and the farmers", said Kumar, who had met the ailing SP founder at the hospital where the latter was admitted during a visit to Delhi last month. (PTI)
Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav will be cremated in Saifai, his native village in Etawah district, on Tuesday around 3 pm, party has said.
"The body of netaji is being taken to Saifai. On Oct 11, he will be cremated at around 3 pm," Samajwadi Party said. (PTI)
The Congress on Monday condoled Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's demise, and said his passing away was an irreparable loss to Indian politics. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said Yadav's unparalleled contribution to Indian politics as defence minister and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh will always be remembered.
"My deepest condolences to Akhilesh Yadav and all other loved ones," she said in a tweet in Hindi.
The Congress, on its official Twitter handle, said, "The death of Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav, the patron of Samajwadi Party, former Defense Minister of the country and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, is an irreparable loss to Indian politics." Senior Congress leader and party's presidential polls contender Shashi Tharoor offered condolences to Akhilesh Yadav on the passing away of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. (PTI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday offered his condolences on the death of Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, hailing him as the leader who raised his voice for restoration of democracy during the emergency, and said he will always be remembered as a grassroots leader.
“Mulayam Singh Yadav remained active in politics for decades with his unique political skills. During the Emergency, he raised his voice for the restoration of democracy. He will always be remembered as a grassroots leader. His death marks the end of an era in Indian politics,” Shah tweeted in Hindi.
Condoling with his family and supporters in their "hour of grief", Shah said: “May God give place to the departed soul at his feet. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.” (PTI)
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday paid tribute to the Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, after the veteran leader passed away in Gurugram.
"Saddened at the demise of Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party patriarch, three-time Chief Minister of UP and country's ex Defence Minister. A true son of the soil, he was a leader of the masses. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace," Bommai said in a tweet.
Uttar Pradesh government announces three-day state mourning on the demise of veteran politician Mulayam Singh Yadav. (ANI)
The last rites of Mulayam Singh Yadav will be held at Saifai, his ancestral village in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav's office said.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath has said that the last rites of the veteran politician will be held with full state honours. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday offered his condolences on the passing away of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. "Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji was a remarkable personality. He was widely admired as a humble and grounded leader who was sensitive to people’s problems. He served people diligently and devoted his life towards popularising the ideals of Loknayak JP and Dr. Lohia," he tweeted.