A slogan rented the air in the mid-1980s in UP -- “whose head never bows, his name is Mulayam Singh”. However, on Monday, Mulayam bowed his head before death.
Born in a farmer’s family on November 22, 1939 in Saifai, no one ever imagined that this boy would change the face of Uttar Pradesh and take Saifai to a global platform. He started his career as a wrestler and charkha dao (move) was his favourite. In politics he used those maneuvers to outsmart his political rivals.
Mulayam’s political career started in 1967 when he won an election from Jaswantnagar. He went on to become a minister, chief minister and Union minister and at one point of time he was very close to becoming the prime minister of the country during the United Front government. But some of the leaders voted against him and he was then made the defence minister.
Despite having political rivals, Mulayam was known to have good relations both in the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress camp. This is proved when he became the chief minister for the first time in 1989 with the support of Bharatiya Janata Party while he supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of Manmohan Singh, thus maintaining a balancing act in this game of political upmanship.
He faced the toughest test of his political career in 1989 when he opposed the kar sewa in Ayodhya announced by Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He gave a free hand to police which led to opening fire on kar sevaks. His statement, whose cue he took from blockbuster film Sholay – ‘parinda par nahi maar sakta’ -- made him a darling of Muslims. He earned the title of Mulla Mulayam
Mulayam, who emerged as a villain in the Ram temple movement because of the anger of Hindus, took use of the Mandal agitation to consolidate the backward vote bank. He was supported by Yadavs and with Muslims by his side he succeeded in stitching a socially important MY combination.
Mulayam knocked many doors before forming his own Samajwadi Party. He started his political journey with Socialist Party, then switched to Janata Party, Lok Dal, Janata Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party. In 1992, he formed the Samajwadi Party and the next year he formed the government by joining hands with Bahujan Samaj Party and defeating Bharatiya Janata Party, which was upbeat after demolition of Babri mosque in 1992.
This combination of Dalits, backwards and Muslims blunted the Ram wave. Another slogan rented the air at that time -- ‘Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram, hawa mein uda gaye Jai Shri Ram'. But the alliance did not last long. After the infamous state guest house case where Samajwadi Party workers misbehaved with Mayawati, the Bahujan Samaj Party withdrew support from the government. This event gave a new twist to UP’s politics as Mayawati became chief minister of UP for the first time with the support of Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mulayam used this opportunity to strengthen his party base and took out 'Samajwadi Kranti Rath'. After 2007, when Mayawati successfully stitched the Brahmin-Dalit alliance, Mulayam could read the disenchantment among the younger generation. He started promoting his son Akhilesh Yadav as the young face of the organisation. The Samajwadi Party fought the 2012 election on the name of Mulayam Singh but Akhilesh was made the chief minister.
The wrestler probably lost to his son as he was removed unceremoniously from the post of national president of the Samajwadi Party. Not only this, some pro-Mulayam leaders were also shown the door. He was hurt by the treatment Akhilesh meted out to him. But he remained silent and admitted that he had lost the battle.
