SP patriarch & ex-UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away at 82 in Gurugram Hospital

In a big loss for Indian polity, Samajwadi Party patriarch and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away at the age of 82 on Monday. While he was undergoing treatment at the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram since August 22, Yadav was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on October 2 after his health deteriorated. Since then, his condition remained critical and was put on life-saving drugs.

Apart from his son Akhilesh Yadav, daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav and other SP workers, leaders from across party lines including Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, CPI general secretary D Raja and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary visited the hospital to check on Yadav. Moreover, PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath also spoke to Akhilesh Yadav to enquire about his father's health. He was being treated by a comprehensive team of specialists. In an official statement, Medanta hospital's Medical Director Dr. Sanjeev Gupta stated that Yadav passed away at 8.16 am today. 

Early years in politics

Born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai, Mulayam Singh Yadav was considered one of the tallest socialist leaders in the country. He completed his B.A, B.T. and M.A. in political science. Inspired and influenced by the socialist thoughts and ideology of Ram Manohar Lohia, he joined politics after coming in close contact with leaders like Madhu Limaye, Karpoori Thakur, Ram Sewak Yadav, Raj Narayan and Janeshwar Mishra. He was active in student politics as well and served as the president of the Etawah Degree College in 1962-63 and Shikohabad A.K. College in 1963-64.

He also served as a lecturer for a brief while at a college in Karhal. He was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1967 and was re-elected in 1974. However, he was arrested a year later during the Emergency and remained incarcerated for 19 months. In 1977, he was again elected as an MLA and was inducted into the Cabinet led by Ram Naresh Yadav as the Minister for Cooperatives and Animal Husbandry. While he became the president of the Lok Dal (People's Party) in the same year, he headed the Lok Dal (B) after a split in the party. He was elected as the president of the Janata Dal in 1980.

Key role in UP & at the Centre

Though he failed to win a seat in the Assembly in 1980, he was elected to the UP Legislative Council two years later and became the Leader of Opposition. After winning the UP Assembly election in 1985, he took over as the Leader of Opposition in the Lower House. In 1991, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time with the outside support of the BJP. However, the saffron party withdrew support to the government after Yadav opposed the Rath Yatra of LK Advani during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation and ordered firing on the Karsevaks who gathered at the then disputed site in Ayodhya on October 30, 1990.

While Congress initially stepped in to back him, his government fell in 1991 after the party withdrew its support. In 1992, he founded the Samajwadi Party and led his party to power in UP a year later in an alliance with BSP. However, his second tenure as the CM was also shortlived after Mayawati's party quit the coalition to form a coalition government with BJP. 1996 marked his entry into Lok Sabha after he was elected from the Mainpuri seat. Although HD Deve Gowda pipped him to the PM post, he became the Defence Minister and continued in that role till 1998.

He was re-elected to the Lower House of Parliament in 1998 and 1999. Yadav became the CM for the third time in September 2003 after the help of rebel legislators of BSP, Independents and smaller parties. When Mayawati became the CM in 2007, he served as the Leader of Opposition for two years. He continued to play a key role in national politics, especially during the UPA regime and became a Lok Sabha MP in 2009, 2014 and 2019. In January 2017, the 8-time MLA suffered a big blow after being ousted as the SP president by Akhilesh Yadav. Since then, the ex-UP CM kept a low profile and avoided campaigning in elections.