Mulayam Singh Yadav: A life in pictures

Veteran Samajwadi leader and MP, Mulayam Singh Yadav, died on October 10 after a prolonged illness. He was 82. 'Netaji' was admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram on August 22 and had been on a life-support system. Here we look back at his illustrious political journey.

Mulayam Singh Yadav: A life in pictures

Mulayam Singh Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, into a farmer's family in Saifai near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. Credit: PTI Photo

Mulayam Singh Yadav, who took part in student union agitations and briefly taught at at Inter College after getting a Political Science degree, started his political journey by becoming an MLA for the first time in 1967. Credit: Facebook/The Socialist: A biography of Mulayam Singh Yadav

Back in the ring after the 1975-77 Emergency, Yadav became the state president of the Lok Dal. When the party split, Mulayam headed one faction of the state unit. Credit: Charan Singh Archives

Yadav was the leader of the Opposition in the UP Legislative Council and then in the State Assembly before becoming the chief minister in 1989 with the BJP extending outside support to his Janata Dal government. Credit: Twitter/KunwarAteeq

Mulayam joined the Bharatiya Kranti Dal of Chaudhary Charan Singh in 1968. The party merged with the Sanyukt Socialist Party and Bharatiya Lok Dal was formed. Credit: Twitter/PandeyJaideep

For decades, Mulayam enjoyed the stature of a national leader but UP largely remained the “akhara” where Yadav played out his politics, beginning as a teenager who was influenced by socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia. Credit: Samajwadi Party

A “socialist”, Yadav was open to possibilities in politics. Thanks often to mergers and splits, he had been affiliated with a series of parties -- Lohia’s Sanyukt Socialist Party, Charan Singh’s Bharatiya Kranti Dal, Bharatiya Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party. He founded his own outfit, Samajwadi Party, in 1992. Credit: Twitter/@SitaramYechury

He held the chief minister's position three times (1989–91, 1993–95, and 2003–07). In this photo, Mulayam Singh Yadav is seen taking the oath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 1989. Credit: Samajwadi Party

Mulayam Singh Yadav was elected an MLA 10 times and an MP, mostly from Mainpuri and Azamgarh, seven times. Credit: Twitter/varungandhi80

Mulayam served as the Defence Minister from 1996 to 1998. Credit: Samajwadi Party

Mulayam Singh Yadav even appeared to have a shot at the prime minister’s post. Credit: PTI Photo

Mulayam was so well-versed in politics that despite passing on the mantle to his son Akhilesh Yadav in 2017, the patriarch remained 'Netaji', the leader, and his presence on the scene provided the glue that held the Yadav clan together, at least to a degree. Credit: PTI Photo

In 2019, 'Netaji' sprang a surprise by praising Narendra Modi in Parliament, wishing that he would return as prime minister after the next election. This was when his party saw Modi’s BJP as its main rival in UP. Credit: Twitter/@narendramodi

In the final years of his life, the patriarch played a diminishing role in the affairs of the party that he had founded. Credit: PTI Photo