Mulayam Singh Yadav passed on at the age of 82 at a private hospital in Gurugram on Monday, 10 October. His mortal remains were brought to Saifai on Monday evening and kept at his 'kothi' where people poured in to pay their last respects to "Netaji", as Mulayam Singh Yadav was fondly called.
With hundreds queued up for the final darshan amid the drizzle, Mulayam Singh Yadav's body was moved around 10 am on Tuesday from the house to a bigger hall on the Mela Ground premises, around one km away, to allow people to pay their last respects.
Onboard the truck decked up with garlands of flowers were his son Akhilesh Yadav, brother Shivpal Yadav and other family members. A huge crowd of people marched along as the vehicle moving slowly on the concrete road of the village. As the hour came closer for Mulayam Singh Yadav's last ride among the mortals, people from all walks of life came out of their houses in their whites, some on rooftops, some climbing the trees along the route and some attempting to just touch the vehicle that carried their beloved leader.
Among the leaders who came to attend the last rites of Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Saifai Mela Ground include Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav were the other dignitaries. Jaya Bachchan came to pay her last respects along with her son and actor Abhishek Bachchan.
(With PTI inputs)
