Lucknow: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday shared the stage with his son Akhilesh Yadav on the occasion of his 79th birthday celebration.
The two have not shared a stage for nearly a year. Mulayam’s younger brother Shivpal Yadav was conspicuous with his absence from the event.
Instead, Shivpal tweeted to convey good wishes to Mulayam. SP sources told News18 that an invitation of the grand birthday celebrations was sent to Shivpal but he decided to stay away from the event.
As soon as Mulayam reached the stage he was greeted by senior SP leaders present, after which his son and SP national president Akhilesh put a shawl around his neck and touched his feet. Mulayam gave him a pat on the back and gave blessed him, giving a hint the rift between the father-son duo may now be behind them.
The dais was dominated by the younger crop of SP leaders like Sunil Singh Sajan, Anand Bhadauria, Dharmendra Yadav, Arvind Singh Gope, Rajpal Kashyap and Ashu Malik instead of senior leaders.
After cutting a grand 79 kg cake on his 79th birthday, Mulayam said Akhilesh is his son first and then a politician. “There should be no difference between a man and a woman, Hindu or Muslim... that is the real meaning of Samajwad. I always tell my younger generation to first understand the real meaning of Samajwad,” he said
“Even when I was termed as ‘Hinduon Ka Hatyara’ by BJP, Samajwadi Party got 105 seats. But look at the results of last elections, we have just 47 seats. This is all because our workers failed to reach out to people and help them. I request to all the party workers to reach out to people in their vicinity who are in need and help them. Also, Muslims on a larger scale still believe in Samajwadi Party, but I guess our workers failed to reach out them also. Helping out the poor and the needy is the real Samajwad and our workers should understand this,” he added.
Mulayam spoke at length at the event, saying that politicians should only promise things to the people which they can deliver. “The BJP promised Rs 15 lakh but has anyone got a single penny? I know giving Rs 15 lakh can be a burden as I have been the Defence Minister of this country and defence has the biggest budget. But then if not Rs15 lakhs then probably they can give Rs 3 lakh a year to the people of India. In such a way their promise will also be fulfilled,” he said, taking a dig at the Rs 15 lakh promise by the BJP before Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Though celebrated on a grand scale every year, the birthday bash was not held last year due the feud within the Yadav clan that began a few months before Mulayam’s birthday.
A birthday-bash was also held by family members and close friends at Mulayam’s residence in Lucknow on Tuesday night. A picture of the last night birthday-bash shows Mulayam donning his favourite dhoti-kurta along with a maroon coloured sweater and flanked by his family members including his wife Sadhna Yadav, daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, granddaughter Prathma and family friends.
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