In accordance with the customs of his native village Saifai, the post-funeral rituals for Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav will not include tehrvi or the 13th day rites.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, was cremated with full state honours on October 11 in Saifai as thousands gathered to pay their respects to the socialist leader. His son and current Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav lit the funeral pyre in Safai’s mela ground. The SP patriarch had passed away on October 10 at a private hospital in Gurugram at the age of 82.
Before lighting the funeral pyre, an emotional Akhilesh placed a red cap – the traditional headgear for Samajwadis – on his father’s head. The SP chief collected the late leader’s ashes on Tuesday morning and thereafter joined the Shuddhikaran Havan with the family.
Like other families in Saifai, the first family of the Samajwadi Party won’t be observing Mulayam Singh Yadav’s tehrvi. The village considers the 13th day rituals to be an affordable affair for well-off families, but financial burden for poorer ones.
Among those who travelled to Saifai to pay their respects were Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and CPI (M) leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, actor and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan and her son Abhishek Bachchan also attended the funeral.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were seen offering their condolences to Akhilesh Yadav.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had been Uttar Pradesh chief minister for three terms, founded the Samajwadi Party in 1992. He was elected an MLA 10 times and an MP, mostly from Mainpuri and Azamgarh, seven times. He was also the Defence Minister (1996-98), and chief minister thrice (1989-91, 1993-95, and 2003-07). And briefly, he even appeared to have a shot at the prime minister’s post.
The party was in a position to form the state government a fourth time in 2012, but Mulayam stepped aside to let the Akhilesh become the CM.
Squabbling in the party and the family led to a coup of sorts by Akhilesh Yadav in 2017. In the final years of his life, the ailing patriarch played a diminishing role in the affairs of the party that he had founded.
With PTI inputs
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