Wrestler to 10-time MLA: Key points about late Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav

Ambitious towards wrestling at an early age, Mulayam segued into politics as a protege to Nathu Singh

Samajwadi Party supremo and three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav died on Monday at a hospital in Gurugram after prolonged illness.

The 82-year-old former defence minister was admitted to a hospital since August and was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Gurugram-based Medanta Hospital on October 2.

Here are 10 points about his life and his political journey:

1. Born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai village in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district, Mulayam Singh Yadav held three degrees in political science - BA from Karm Kshetra Post Graduate College in Etawah, a BT from A. K. College in Shikohabad, and an MA from B. R. College, Agra University.

2. Mulayam's entry into politics was through wrestling. As a young man, he aspired to be a wrestler, and it was during one such wrestling match in Mainpuri that he first came to the notice of the then Jaswantnagar MLA Nathu Singh. He then groomed him as his protege and this paved way for Mulayam Singh Yadav's entry into politics. He was also given the Sanyukta Socialist Party ticket on his Jaswantnagar assembly seat.

Also Read: Mulayam Singh Yadav was key soldier for democracy during Emergency: PM Modi

3. Mulayam, in his early days, took part in several socialist movements, after being inspired by the writings of well-known socialist Ram Manohar Lohia. He advocated for the plight of lower castes and minorities, who later formed a large portion of his supporters. After contesting for a socialist party, he was inducted into the state assembly in 1967, making him the youngest member of the assembly.

4. Mulayam Singh Yadav married twice. He was first married to Malti Devi. Devi, the mother of former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, following complications during child birth, was in a vegetative state from 1974 until her death in 2003.

While still married to Devi, Mulayam had an affair with Sadhana Gupta in the 1990s. Gupta passed earlier this year following an illness.

5. Mulayam first took the Chief Minister's mantle in 1989 but that stint was shortlived. After the collapse of the VP Singh government in the centre in 1990, Yadav joined Chandra Shekhar's JD(S) and continued to remain in the office with the support of the Congress. But after the Congress party withdrew their support in April in the subsequent year, he was forced out of the chair.

He later went on to become the Chief Minister two more times between 1993-95 and from 2003-2007.

6. 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 SP in 1992.

7. Mulayam was appointed as the union defence minister in the HD Deve Gowda government in 1996. The Samajwadi Party supremo even was dubbed for the Prime Minister's post but the move was opposed by Bihar's Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Also Read: 3-day state mourning in Uttar Pradesh on demise of Mulayam Singh Yadav

8. Following the Nirbhaya rape case in 2015, Mulayam drew flak for his comments on the matter. Regarding the heinous act, he said while one man commits rape, four are named to “settle scores" and that rape by four persons was not “practical". In the run up to the state elections in 2014, the leader opposed capital punishment for rape, saying "ladke ladke hain, galti ho jati hai (boys will be boys, mistakes can be made)." Speaking at a rally in Moradabad, he said, "Ladkiyan pehle dosti karti hain. Ladke-ladki mein matbhed ho jata hai. Matbhed hone key baad usey rape ka naam dey deti hain."

9. Mulayam Singh Yadav was elected as MLA for a total of ten times, the first being in 1967. He was elected as MLA from Jashwantnagar constituency 7 times, from 1967 to 1996. He was elected MLA from Sahaswan, and Gunnaur as well. Mulayam also served as the Member of Parliament for a total of 7 terms.

10. In 2012, when SP was again in a position to form the UP government. But the senior Yadav stepped aside so that his son Akhilesh could become the state’s youngest CM at 38.

But squabbling in the party and the family led to a coup of sorts by Akhilesh in 2017. Akhilesh was at loggerheads with the old guard that included uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.

As chief minister, the younger Yadav enjoyed popular support within the party as well and wrested it from his father at an SP convention. While the former wrestler’s supporters cried foul, the son projected the takeover as a tough but necessary move. Akhilesh had, when in power, stripped Shivpal Singh Yadav of 4 portfolios.

Miffed with his son, Mulayam Singh Yadav said that he was “humiliated and betrayed” by Akhilesh. “While the people of UP voted for me in 2012, I chose to make Akhilesh the chief minister, but he humiliated me thereafter,” Mulayam had said.

(With PTI inputs)