Mulayam Singh Yadav: From wrestler to chief minister, a look at SP patriarch’s political journey

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away on Monday (October 10, 2022) at the age of 82. SP patriarch was admitted at the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram, Haryana, due to ill health where he breathed his last. The SP patron was under treatment at the hospital since August 22 and was shifted to the ICU on October 2. 

"My respected father and everyone's 'Neta ji' is no more - Shri Akhilesh Yadav," Samajwadi Party tweeted.

  — Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) October 10, 2022

The 82-year-old Samajwadi Party patriarch was facing difficulty in breathing and was under the supervision of an internal medicine expert at the Medanta Hospital, as per sources. Singh was suffering from a urinary infection as well, hospital sources had said.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s political journey 

Mulayam Singh Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village, Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, to Murti Devi and Sughar Singh Yadav. Yadav took his plunge into politics after being inspired and motivated by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia’s socialist ideas and beliefs, and meeting Sarvashri Madhu Limaye, Karpoori Thakur, Ram Sewak Yadav, Raj Narayan, and Janeshwar Mishra. Throughout his political career, Mulayam Singh was associated with several controversies. 

Short in height and high on a political drive, Yadav was 28 years old when he was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1967. Mulayam Singh’s political career lasted over five decades. He was elected 10 times as MLA and 7 times as Lok Sabha MP.

In fact, he was so well-versed in the politics of the most populous state of India that he was fondly called "Netaji" by his admirers as well as his detractors.

Yadav was elected as the Chief Minister of the state for the first time in 1989. Mulayam Singh created the Samajwadi Party in 1992 on the values of Shri Ram Manohar Lohia and joined up with the Bahujan Samaj Party to win the UP assembly elections in 1993.

He had been Uttar Pradesh's CM three times, from 1989 to 1991, 1993 to 1995, and 2003 to 2007. He was also the Union defence minister from 1996 to 1998.

Yadav’s emergence, interestingly, corresponds with the development of Hindutva in the late 1980s.

His was the story of a politician who almost became the Prime Minister of India. In 1996, when the United Front was poised to form the government, Mulayam Singh`s name was floated to lead the alliance. It was opposed by leaders, including Lalu Prasad Yadav. He again saw an opportunity in 2014 but the election results dampened the possibility forever. 

In July this year, the Samajwadi Party patriarch`s wife Sadhna Gupta passed away after undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Gurugram for a lung infection.