Sharad Yadav  leaves a void in the socialist movement in the country

The veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav is no more. He died while undergoing treatment in Gurugram, Haryana. He was admitted after he collapsed at home, Yadav is survived by his wife and two children. His death is a sudden jolt to the socialist politics in the country as he was one of the most prominent faces of socialism in the country. He was one of the key leaders who opposed Indira Gandhi’s Congress during the Emergency. Sharad Yadav was always active in politics and had been a part of the Lok Dal and Janata Party and its spin offs. Yadav first won a seat in the Lok Sabha in 1974, defeating the Congress candidate. Since then, he was elected as MP multiple times. Yadav served as minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and VP Singh governments. Yadav was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in 1974 in a by-poll. It was the time when JP Movement was at its peak and he was the first candidate chosen by Jai Prakash Narayan. In 1977, he was re-elected from the same constituency. When Janata Party split in 1979, he sided with the Charan Singh faction. Though he switched parties but he never gave up his ideology and remained committed to socialistic values that he imbibed in his college days.

He contested the Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar several times which became his favourite seat. He won the Madhepura seat four times in 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2009. He lost four times from Madhepura constituency when he contested on RJD's ticket. A few years ago, there was a rift between Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, after which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself became the national president of the party. Sharad Yadav left JDU and formed a new party, although his new party did not work, after which he got associated with Lalu Prasad Yadav's party RJD and remained there till his last day. He had fair share of highs and lows in his long political career spanning over five decades. He was one of the accused in the ‘hawala’ scandal however, the charges were dismissed by the Supreme Court of India. Without him socialism which is already fading would fade even faster.  Mulayam Singh Yadav, another exponent of socialism is already gone. However, the values he stood for would continue to inspire the generations to come as the dream of the egalitarian society is still unfulfilled in the country.