Mulayam Singh taught poor, Dalits, oppressed to live with honour, amity: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav

Etawah: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said Mulayam Singh Yadav had taught the poor, Dalits and the oppressed to live with honour and amity. Paying tribute to his father during a 'Dharti Putr Divas' programme in Saifai on the Samajwadi Party founder's 83rd birth anniversary, Akhilesh Yadav said as defence minister, 'Netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav) had provisioned for bodies of martyrs to reach home with full respect. Mualayam Singh Yadav (82) died in a Gurugram hospital on October 10. The Samajwadi Party (SP) is observing his birth anniversary as 'Dharti Putr Divas'.

"'Netaji' took forward the politics of amity and took socialism to a new height. We will move on the path shown by him, take society forward; only then will the country move forward," he said. In Saifai, Mulayam Singh Yadav's birthplace, family members and party leaders paid floral tributes to his memorial.

Speaking on the occasion, former Rajya Sabha MP Uday Pratap Singh, said, "Mulayam Singh Yadav was the first of my students. He was then my teacher and became my political guru (mentor). "When I entered school as a teacher in 1958, he (Mulayam Yadav) was my student and later he became 'Netaji'. Today, everyone knows him as 'Netaji'." He added that the society and the country would move forward by following the path of socialism and it was only possible with a 'Samajwadi' (socialist) government.

The socialist movement of 'netaji' has to be taken forward and made more vocal, he said, adding that a true tribute to 'Netaji' would be the formation of a Samajwadi government. During the event, SP General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav alleged that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had "misused her power" to defeat Mulayam Singh Yadav, without specifying the details.

"In 1979, then prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh had tendered resignation. In the subsequent elections, our party (Janata Party (Secular)) won 34 seats from Ghatampur to Saharanpur," Ramgopal Yadav said.

When Indira Gandhi learnt that Mulayam Singh Yadav was behind the success of the Janata Party (Secular), she said "he (Mulayam Singh Yadav) should be made to lose the Assembly elections and, at the behest of the government, he was made to lose", the SP leader alleged. Though Ramgopal Yadav did not mention the specific election, he was likely pointing to the 1980 Lok Sabha and Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Mulayam Singh Yadav had lost to the Congress' Balram Singh Yadav in the 1980 polls.

"'Netaji' was not allowed to cast his vote, and on the morning (of the vote) itself, the district collector and the superintendent of police had made him sit in their vehicle," Ramgopal Yadav said. Recalling another incident, Ramgopal Yadav said in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav was questioned for fielding Ram Singh Shakya from Etawah. Mr Shakya, however, won by 56,075 votes.

The SP founder's vacant Lok Sabha seat in Mainpuri, where the contest is mainly between the SP's Dimple Yadav and the BJP's Raghuraj Singh Shakya, will go to polls on December 5. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief and Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader Kiranmoy Nanda and other party leaders were also present on the occasion.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's birth anniversary was also observed at the party's state unit office in Lucknow and other districts, the Samajwadi Party said in a statement issued here. A three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai, Etawah.