I first met Mulayam Singh Yadav when I knew zilch about politics. I was at his family residence to interview Akhilesh Yadav- who was then serving his first stint as an MP. As the interview wound up, the junior Yadav insisted I meet his father. We walked to an adjoining room where Mulayam Singh Yadav was seated on a large sofa - wearing a white dhoti and kurta with a red cap on his head. As soon as he saw me, he stood up to greet me. I was gobsmacked. Even with my almost little knowledge of politicians, I knew they would be few - and that too senior ones, who would stand up to greet a woman. Our brief conversation was easy, and he told me he read the publication I was then working for with great interest. Some weeks later he would also pose with a copy of the magazine in his hands. “Achcha kaam karte hain aap log” (You guys do a good job), he said.
At 9.41 am on Monday, a tweet went up on the Samajwadi Party’s official handle announcing the demise of the man popularly known as 'Netaji.' He was 82.
Over the last week, a steady stream of visitors had been to the hospital where Yadav had been admitted since August 22, for a steadily worsening kidney infection. The medical bulletins gave nothing away, saying only that an expert team of doctors was monitoring his condition. On October 1, he was shifted to the IICU.
Yadav’s initiation into politics was the stuff of legends. He founded the Samajwadi Party on October 4, 1992, in Lucknow’s Begum Hazrat Mahal Park- the iconic Lucknow landmark named after a fierce ruler. Old-timers still talk about him pedalling his cycle from village to village to collect donations for his party. His brother Shivpal had spoken about how they would carry roasted gram to eat on these journeys and sleep wherever a supporter gave them space.
From there to being the three-time chief minister of UP, and then the country’s defence minister (1996 to 1998), Netaji came a long way.
Of course, he was not without his share of gaffes. The most noted of which was his statement, "Boys will be boys, they make mistakes…should they be hanged for it?" he said about rape.
In January 2017, his fortune began to turn. His elder son Akhilesh unseated him as party president in a surprise move. He went on to say that his son had insulted him and that voters understood that one who could not be loyal to his father would not be loyal to anyone.
It must have been a dark period for him, given that in 2012, it was he who had pushed for Akhilesh to be chief minister. Seniors like Azam Khan opposed it but then gave in by saying that Netaji’s wish was supreme for them.
Netaji’s decline was steady since then. Though every winter, health permitting, he would still be at the party office lawns listening to every party worker, his public appearances became rarer and rarer. In the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, he addressed one election rally and mumbled his way through it.
In July 2022, his second wife Sadhna passed away. That was perhaps the last time he was seen in public. The tears in his eyes were visible as he was driven away from the cremation ground.
It was perhaps the last in a string of miseries that finally pushed him over the edge.
