It was the end of an era in Indian politics as socialist veteran and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away last Monday. A professional wrestler who continued to organize ‘dangals’ (wrestling competitions) in his native Saifai till the very end, Mulayam, an acolyte of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, redefined Mandal politics in India.
Netaji, as he was popularly referred to by his followers, gave voice to Dalits and other downtrodden communities and fought for their rights from every possible forum. He picked up the Mandal thread from where VP Singh had left it and ensured that the oppressed classes of India were not pushed to the margins by their more privileged upper-class brethren.
The MY (Muslim-Yadav) formula of winning elections that former Bihar chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav brought into political focus with his assiduous wooing of these two communities was actually the brainchild of Mulayam. From that point of view he was the political guru of Lalu, with whom he also enjoyed family ties.
Mulayam, who had a roller-coaster political career, will be remembered most for upholding the values of secularism in an era that saw the country divided on communal lines. The Muslims trusted him while the Yadavs, Dalits and other backward communities formed the backbone of his support base.
He was no stranger to controversies. His flip-flops, too, were legendary. Towards the fag end of his political career, which saw him moving away from his son Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam stunned his supporters by singing praises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mulayam, who once came very close to becoming the Prime Minister of the country, had a perfect understanding of caste politics in not only Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state in terms of population, but also many other parts of the country. He was at the helm when the post-Mandal 27% reservation for OBCs was implemented. This triggered a social churning and gave a new direction to politics.
A man for all seasons, Mulayam was a known for sticking by his friends and loyalists through thick and thin. There are many versions of his long and controversial friendship with late Amar Singh and how and why they fell apart. But what is most important is that he had a soft corner for the Rajput leader until his death a few years ago.
The coming to power of Mulayam in 1989 heralded a long period in UP politics that saw the domination of backward castes and Dalits. This spell was broken only in phases until Yogi Adityanath, a Thakur, became the chief minister of the state in 2017. Such was the domination of his MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination in politics that at one stage in his career he earned the nickname ‘Moulana Mulayam’ for his support of Muslims.
But he was unfazed by such criticism and always backed the deprived and the oppressed and enjoyed the best of relations with the national leaders of most parties. This explains why he had no hesitation in praising Prime Minister Modi when he was impressed with his good work. Mulayam was truly the last of his kind in Indian politics.
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