Mulayam Singh Yadav: Soft at heart, but a man of steel

Lucknow: "Jalwa jiska kayam hai, uska naam Mulayam hai!" For a long, this was a war cry for the Samajwadi Party.

The slogan was enough to shake the confidence of any rival who entered any SP bastion, which Mulayam Singh Yadav created with his political grit in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.

Mulayam may sound soft like his name, but he was a man of steel. He had a politically sharp mind and the qualities of a wrestler, which he indeed was in his early days.

Born on November 22, 1939, in a farmer family in Etawah district to Murti Devi and Sughar Singh Yadav, Mulayam's rise in politics was not meteoric.

Mulayam's father wanted to make him a wrestler but destiny had its own plans, helping the short man to finally become a 'Netaji'.

After completing his masters in Political Science from BR College in Agra University Agra, Mulayam took up a government job as a teacher.

But Mulayam continued with wrestling. It was during a wrestling match that he met his first mentor Nathu Singh, who suggested to him to embrace politics. Mulayam did that.

But even before that, in 1954, he went to jail for participating in an agitation held on the call of veteran socialist Dr Ram Manohar Lohia at age 15.

Mulayam first contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly election from Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah in 1967 on the ticket of Socialist Party and won. He was re-elected in 1974.

During the Emergency, Mulayam too was arrested and jailed. He was freed after 19 months.

He was elected the Uttar Pradesh President of the Lok Dal and named a Minister in the Ram Naresh Yadav and Banarasi Das governments.

After the fall of Banarasi Das government, Mulayam donned the role of Leader of the Opposition. He was again elected to the Assembly in 1985 and remained the Leader of the Opposition in 1989.

Assembly elections in 1989 brought a new dawn in the political life of Mulayam. Though initially he was aligned with Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who was the Prime Minister, he quickly changed sides after the fall of the and shook hands Chandra Shekar.

Mulayam continued in the office till 1991 when Congress withdrew its support extended to his government. This was when Mulayam changed the political equation in UP by introducing MY (Muslim and Yadav) factor.

On October 30, 1990, security forces opened fire at Ayodhya, killing a large number of Kar Sewaks who wanted to raze the Babri mosque.

After defending the police action again and again, Mulayam, 27 years later in 2016, expressed regret: "I regret giving orders to shoot Kar Sewaks in Ayodhya."

This not only dented the image of Mulayam among the majority community but opened a golden door for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This incident even led to downfall of the Mulayam government and the rise of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

By this time fissures in the Janata Dal started developing. Mulayam floated his Samajwadi Party and became its President.

He forged an alliance with the Kanshi Ram-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). He became the Chief Minister for a second term in December 1993. By then, the Babri Masjid was gone.

But Mulayam and BSP leader Mayawati fell out, and their rivalry never ended.

In 1996, Mulayam was elected to the Uttar Pradesh assembly for the eighth term and later got elected to the Lok Sabha from Mainpuri.

During the United Front coalition government, Mulayam became the Defence Minister under Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. It was he who decided that the bodies of soldiers reached their home.

Mulayam remained in national politics until 2003 when he again came back to UP as the Chief Minister for a third time.

He launched a number of welfare schemes but was often accused of favouring a particular community and appeasing the minorities. Corruption led to the fall of his government in 2007.

The later years witnessed infighting within the party and growing influence of Amar. Some of his trusted lieutenants deserted the party.

The biggest asset of Mulayam was his memory and leadership. He never forgot the names of the people even if he had met him only once. Whether they are his old pals from schools or small party workers, he used to call people by their first name.

He was a mass leader, accepted by his supporters and foes alike.

The SP again won the 2012 assembly elections but Mulayam passed his legacy to his son Akhilesh Yadav and made him the Chief Minister.

From that point of time Mulayam became less active in state politics and focused more on national politics. His opinions on national issues, specially those related to China, were frank and blunt.

He did not hesitate in criticising Akhilesh when he forged an alliance with Mayawati before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. (UNI)