Saifai (Uttar Pradesh). The last rites of veteran socialist leader and founder of SP Mulayam Singh Yadav were performed on Tuesday in front of the crowd gathered at the fair ground in Saifai. Yadav’s elder son and SP President Akhilesh Yadav lit him. Before lighting the fire, Akhilesh put a red cap of Samajwadi Party (SP) on his head. During the last rites, the people present there chanted ‘Netaji-Amar Rahe’ and ‘Mulayam Singh Yadav-Amar Rahein, Amar Rahe’.
It is noteworthy that Yadav, the founder of Samajwadi Party and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, died on Monday at the private Medanta Hospital located in Gurugram (Haryana). He was 82 years old. His body was brought to Saifai on Monday evening and kept in his ‘kothi’, where thousands of people came to pay their last respects to ‘Netaji’. Yadav was popularly known as ‘Netaji’ among his supporters and workers.
A stage was erected at the Mela Ground to pay last farewell and tribute to Yadav. This morning Akhilesh Yadav and other family members carrying Mulayam’s body in a chariot reached the fair ground from ‘Kothi’, where it was placed on a huge platform for the last darshan of the people. When the chariot reached the fair ground, the atmosphere there became inconsolable.
Apart from Akhilesh Yadav, many members of the family including his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, Professor Ram Gopal Yadav were seen on the stage. The family members first bid farewell to Netaji by offering flowers. Women of the family including former MP Dimple Yadav were also present. Several SP leaders including former minister Omprakash Singh also paid their tributes by paying their last respects to Yadav. Senior SP leader Azam Khan along with his MLA son Abdullah Azam had arrived on the wheel chair to pay tribute to Yadav.
At around two o’clock, Akhilesh Yadav and other family members shouldered Netaji’s carnivore. After this, Yadav’s body was decorated on a sandalwood pyre in the resting place and around four o’clock Akhilesh Yadav lit him with moist eyes.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, Union Minister Apna Dal (S) President Anupriya Patel, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna, Public Works Minister Jitin Prasad along with the state government. Many ministers, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath, senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule reached Saifai to pay tribute.
In Maharashtra, many prominent people including SP leader Abu Azmi from Mumbai, Apna Dal (Communist) President Krishna Patel, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, Union Minister Professor SP Baghel and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti paid their last respects to Mulayam. Industrialist Anil Ambani also reached Saifai to attend Mulayam Singh’s funeral.
Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Rashtriya Lok Dal President and MP Jayant Chaudhary, Nishad Party President and State Government Minister Sanjay Nishad, Apna Dal (Communist) President Krishna Patel, Aam Aadmi Party in-charge of UP and MP Sanjay Singh among others. The leaders of the parties reached there and paid their tributes.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi were among those who arrived early at the Saifai Mela Ground pandal here to pay their last respects to Yadav. (Language)
