Mulayam rides b'day buggy

It was a birthday celebration, which would have very few parallels, at least in India.
A fancy ride on an imported Victorian style buggy (horse cart), a 75-ft long specially made fruit cake, raining flower petals and cheering crowds of children coupled with rendition of gazals and sufi music making it a memorable moment indeed for the Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who celebrated his 75th birthday in Rampur, the hometown of his close aide Azam Khan.

Though Mulayam would turn 75 on Saturday, the celebrations began on Friday afternoon and would continue till well into midnight.

The entire show was organized by Azam Khan. While Mulayam, UP Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and Khan himself rode on the buggy, there was a cavalcade of around one hundred vehicles having senior UP ministers and SP leaders as well as Mulayam’s friends.

The entire town of Rampur has been decorated with flowers and painted in red, the colour of the Samajwadi Party. All schools have been closed for two days to enable the children to greet the SP leader.

Local officials said that over 100 welcome arches were prepared through which Mulayam cavalcade would pass.

Public money

The grand show has invited flak from the opposition parties. The BJP criticized the show of opulence and alleged that the entire function had been organised with public money. “It is sheer wastage of public money it as ‘wastage of money’. Where is the money coming from,” asked a senior BJP leader here.