Samajwadi Party’s founder and patron Mulayam Singh Yadav (1939-2022) passed away in a Gurugram hospital on October 10, 2022, after a prolonged illness. An astute politician, Mr. Yadav blazed a new trail by putting backward castes at the centre of Uttar Pradesh politics and served as the Chief Minister of the most populous State three times (1989-91, 1993-95, and 2003-2007). He is survived by two sons, Akhilesh and Prateek.
A strong votary of secular politics, Mr. Yadav suffered electoral losses after he ordered the firing on the Kar Sevaks at the peak of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1990, but he pitted himself as the saviour of the spirit of the Constitution and returned to rule the State by forging a strong Muslim-Yadav combination that paid rich dividends at the hustings.
Read: Mulayam Singh Yadav’s death reactions | Leaders pay tribute
