Late SP Patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav Cremated In Saifai, Thousands Turn Up To See Him One Last Time

Several thousands of people turned up to witness the funeral procession of Yadav, the founder of SP and a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.?

A host of VIPs attended the funeral of Yadav, including top politicians from across the spectrum. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were present there from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).?

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and the Left party leader Sitaram Yechury were also present there. Industrialist Anim Ambaniw also attended the funeral.?

Yadav had been unwell for some time. He died at a private hospital in Haryana's Gurugram on Monday. He was 82.?

Yadav's body was brought to Saifai on Monday evening. A large number of people and dignitaries turned up for his funeral in Saifai on Tuesday. ?

People in large numbers were headed Tuesday for the last rites of Yadav at his native village Saifai in Etawah district of Uttar?Pradesh. The intermittent morning drizzle adding to the sombreness.

Yadav's mortal remains were brought to Saifai Monday evening and kept at his 'kothi' where thousands descended to pay their last respects to "Netaji", as Yadav was fondly called.

Party workers and people in their hundreds -- riding cycles, motorcycles, cars, SUVs and other means of transport -- were headed to Saifai from nearby areas Tuesday morning for the final rites.?

In her condolence message, President Droupadi Murmu Monday described Yadav as "Dharti Putra" - a moniker bestowed on the socialist leader for his growth as a political heavyweight from the grassroots level.

"Yadav was hugely popular among the locals for his conenct with the masses," Manoj Mishra, a native of Etawah told PTI, reminiscing how 'Netaji' knew people of the region by their first names.

As it drizzled Tuesday morning, hundreds of people queued up outside Yadav's 'kothi' for his the final darshan.?

Among them was a group of six men who had come from Chunar village in Mirzapur in eastern UP.

"We left village in an auto for Mirzapur railway station. Boarded a train at 11 pm and reached Etawah around 7 am," Babu Nandan Yadav told PTI after Yadav's darshan.

Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and BJP leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi were among the leaders who arrived early at the Saifai Mela Ground pandal here to pay their last respects to Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.

SP leader Dharmendra Yadav could not hold back his tears as he stood near the socialist leader's coffin

Naidu, also the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister, termed Yadav's demise a "loss for Uttar Pradesh".

Joshi said Yadav never considered his political opponents as enemies and that he shared a personal bond with every leader.

The other leaders who paid their tributes to 'netaji' were his son and incumbent SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Yadav's brother and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) founder Shivpal Yadav, senior SP leaders Ramgopal Yadav, Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharmendra Yadav, Ram Gobind Chaudhary, Kiranmoy Nanda, and Om Prakash Singh.

Veteran SP leader Azam Khan also paid his last respects to the former chief minister.

(With PTI inputs)