Hours after former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav's demise, his mortal remains reached his ancestral village Saifai. The 82-year-old SP patriarch died at the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram earlier in the day after prolonged illness.
A large crowd was present as his mortal remains arrived while his son Akhilesh Yadav was also present along with other party workers.
Mulayam Singh Yadav will be cremated at 3 pm on Tuesday.
Yadav was hospitalised since August and was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Medanta Hospital on October 2.
About Mulayam Singh Yadav:
A wrestler-turned-teacher, Mulayam was born on Nov 22, 1939, in Etawah. He completed his MA (political science) and B.Ed degrees. He was elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly for the first time from Etawah’s Jaswantnagar in 1967 as a Samyukt Socialist Party candidate, but lost the election in 1969 to the Congress’s Bishambhar Singh Yadav.
Yadav, who was a socialist leader, founded the Samajwadi Party in 1992. He was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh three times--from 1989-1991, 1993-1995 and 2003-2007. He also held the post of Union defence minister from 1996-1998. In the 2012 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, when the SP won a majority and formed government, Mulayam let Akhilesh take over as chief minister.
PM Modi, Presidennt Murmu condole demise:
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and several leaders expressed condolences on the demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
President Droupadi Murmu in a tweet in Hindi described Yadav as a tall grassroots level leader who rose to prominence from a simple background.
She further described the former defence minister as a leader with extraordinary abilities and said that his demise was a "great loss" to the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was pained by Yadav's demise and recalled his long association with the socialist leader.
"I had many interactions with Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji when we served as Chief Ministers of our respective states. The close association continued and I always looked forward to hearing his views. His demise pains me. Condolences to his family and lakhs of supporters. Om Shanti," he tweeted.
"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," the Prime Minister tweeted further.
(with agency inputs)
