Etawah(UP), Oct 11 : Mortal remains of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav were consigned to flames in his native Saifai on Tuesday with full state honour as his supporters and party workers bid adieu to their ‘netaji’ in tears.
His son and SP president Akhilesh Yadav performed the last rites and lit the pyre amid chants of “Mulayam Singh Amar Rahein” and “Dharti Putra Mulayam Singh Amar Rahein”.
The last rites with full state honours were held as a mammoth mob assembled at the cremation ground to catch a last glimpse and pay tribute to the departed soul.
The entire Yadav clan, including Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav, Aditya Yadav, Prateek Yadav, his wife Aparna Yadav, Akshay Yadav and other family members and relatives were present on the occasion.
A sea of people followed the funeral procession from the Mela Pandal up to the cremation ground.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, Chief Ministers of various states along with leaders of various political parties paid their tributes to the former defence minister ahead of his last rites.
After paying tributes to the socialist leader, Rajnath said, “I had very good relations with Mulayam Singh. He was considered to be a leader who was down and earth and connected to his roots. His departure has caused a huge loss to the politics in India.”
Deputy CM Brijesh Pathak said, “The demise of former UP CM and senior leader Mulayam Singh Yadav is extremely said. Today I conveyed my deep sympathies to the family in Saifai. While offering tributes on the mortal remains have prayed for the peace of the departed soul.”
Earlier, after the mortal remains of Mulayam were brought to the pandal of Saifai Mela ground in the morning there was a huge influx of people paying tribute to him.
Other than Rajnath, Om Birla and Pawar, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Telangana CM KC Rao, Deputy CMs of UP Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy CM of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav, former CM of Madhya Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, SP’s Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan and her actor son Abhishek Bachchan paid tributes to Mulayam.
Among others Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, industrialists Anil Ambani, Subrata Roy, senior SP leader and a longtime associate of Mulayam, Mohammad Azam Khan, his MLA son Abdullah Azam, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maneka Gandhi, and her son and MP Varun Gandhi, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union Minister Praful Patel, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar and several other leaders paid their tributes to Mulayam on the occasion.
Mulayam Singh passed away at the Medanta hospital in Gurugram after prolonged illness on Monday. The 82-year-old leader was admitted to the hospital for the last one and a half month.
His mortal remains were brought from Gurugram to his ancestral house in Saifai village in Etawah district on Monday evening where UP CM Yogi Adityanath along with Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh and BJP state president Bhupendra Singh paid their tributes.
The state government has announced a state mourning for three days.
