Pillar of Socialism, says CM Yogi...
Ahead of the demise of the veteran politician of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh will observe three days of state mourning announced by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Chief Minister further spoke to Mulayam Singh's son Akhilesh Yadav, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, and brother Ram Gopal Yadav over the phone to convey his condolences, said a spokesperson.
"Death of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is extremely sad," said CM Yogi Adityanath.
"He was a pillar of socialism. His death is the end of an era of struggle," he added, "I wish peace to the departed soul and my condolences to the bereaved family and supporters."
He announced that the last rites will be performed with full state honours and declared a three-day mourning.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, a three-time former chief minister, died at 82 earlier today.
He is popularly referred to as "Netaji" ('Dear Leader') by Samajwadi Party supporters, he had also served as the country's Defence Minister.
The former wrestler emerged as a centre of UP politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s when protests and agitations over the Mandal Commission, set up to identify the socially or educationally backward classes in India, were at their peak. During the protests, backward caste leaders like Mulayam Singh and Bihar's Lalu Prasad Yadav emerged as stalwarts in the Hindi belt.
Mulayam Singh Yadav first made it to the assembly in 1967 — one of eight wins in state polls — and was also elected to the Lok Sabha seven times.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his condolences, said that Mulayam Singh Yadav was a key soldier for democracy during the Emergency, which was imposed by the then Congress government in the mid-1970s. Moreover, President Murmu also expressed her condolences and grief to his family.
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