Illustrious political journey of wrestler-turned-politician

Mulayam had a dramatic rise from a low profile wrestler to a UP heavyweight who became the UP ch9ief minister three times and member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly for 8 times.

Lucknow: Former UP CM and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away here on Monday after a prolonged illness at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. A trained wrestler, Yadav is one of the big survivors in Indian politics. Born in Etawah's Saifai village on November 31, 1939, he completed his MA in Political Science from BR College in Agra University and soon took a plunge into politics.

From 1967 to 1996, he was a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly 8 times. For the first time in the year 1967, he won on the ticket of the Samyukta Socialist Party. In 1977, Mulayam became a minister for the first time in UP. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1982 to 87 and went on to become the Chief Minister of UP for the first time in 1989.

In 1992, he founded the Samajwadi Party with the bicycle as the election symbol. Mulayam became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second time in 1993-95. He reached Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996 and became Defense Minister at the Centre. He became the CM of UP for the third time in 2003 and remained in the chair till 2007.

In 2012, his party SP returned to power in UP with Mulayam passing on the reins of CM's chair to his son Akhilesh Yadav. Mulayam Singh Yadav has been elected to the Lok Sabha seven times. Much before Mulayam founded the SP and became a heavyweight in UP and national politics, in 1962, a wrestling match changed the fate of Mulayam Singh Yadav forever.

A wrestling competition was going on during the campaigning for the assembly elections in the Jaswant Nagar area. Samyukta Socialist Party candidate Nathu Singh had also reached to see him at the match where Mulayam Singh Yadav of relatively shorter stature defeated noted wrestlers and became the favorite of Nathu Singh.

Nathu Singh offered him an assembly election ticket in 1967. Mulayam Singh Yadav has gone to jail nine times in his political career. He was in jail for a long time even during the Emergency in 1975. In 1954, when Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia agitated against the increased water tax in Farrukhabad, Mulayam also jumped into the arena and was arrested during the movement.

At that time Mulayam Singh Yadav was only 15 years old. Mulayam Singh Yadav had married twice in his lifetime. The name of Mulayam Singh Yadav's first wife was Malti Devi who passed away in 2003. Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav is the son of his first wife Malti Devi. The name of Mulayam Singh Yadav's second wife was Sadhna Yadav.

She died in March 2022. It is said that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sadhna Singh came close to each other during the year 1982. Prateek Yadav is the son of Mulayam Singh's second wife. The elder brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav, was a farmer, while the younger brother Abhayram Singh, Shivpal Singh Yadav, and Ram Gopal Singh Yadav remained in active politics.

His younger sister's name is Kamala Devi.