Life and times of Mulayam Singh Yadav: From a wrestler, teacher, to national leader

Mulayam Singh Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, into a farming family in Saifai near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. He comes from a prominent political caste in Uttar Pradesh—Yadav.

Trained famously as a wrestler, the 82-year-old veteran leader founded his Samajwadi Party in 1992 and ruled the state for many decades with his Socialist policies. 

He began his career in politics by participating in student union agitations.

Yadav's party had come into prominence at a time when the campaign for a Ram temple was peaking. He had emerged as a critical secular counterpoint to the rise of Hindutva politics in the Hindi heartland.

For decades, he enjoyed the stature of a national leader but largely focused on his home state UP, where Yadav played out his politics, beginning as a teenager who was influenced by socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia.

He also briefly taught at an inter-college after getting a Political Science degree.

He was elected MLA 10 times and an MP, mostly from Mainpuri and Azamgarh, seven times. He became chief minister thrice, 1989-91, 1993-95, and 2003-07. 

He was also India's defence minister (1996-98), and briefly, he even appeared to have a shot at the prime minister's post.

Fondly called 'Netaji' (Respected Leader) by his supporters and party workers, Mulayam is known for his strong grassroots connect with the people while maintaing his national profle. 

"Netaji sansad mein hote hain ya sadak pe" (Netaji would either by in the assembly or on the streers) his supporters would say often, testifying to his connect with the people. 

Mulayam Singh Yadav was married twice. His first wife Malti Devi died in 2003 following ill health. Present Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is their only son.

The details of his second wife, Sadhana Gupta, came to light in 2007 after the SP patriarch filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court in connection with his income. This was incidentally the first official confirmation that he had remarried. Sadhana has a son named Prateek Yadav from her earlier marriage.

Mulayam Singh Yadav has four brothers and one sister Kamla Devi.

Though a staunch socialist, Yadav never shied away from forging alliances with rival and ideologically different parties.    

He used to merger and split at his convenience. His support in the parliament was considered essential as UP state produces large number of MPs that could decide the fate of the prime ministers.

He he had been affiliated with a series of parties —Lohia's Sanyukt Socialist Party, Charan Singh's Bharatiya Kranti Dal, Bharatiya Lok Dal and Samajwadi Janata Party. 

Yadav struck deals with the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress whenever needed to form or save the governments led by him in Uttar Pradesh.