The funeral of veteran socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav was held with state honours at his native town Saifai in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district today.
Leaders from across India's political spectrum, including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, paid their respects, as did thousands of his supporters who walked in the procession from the family house to the cremation grounds.
The Samajwadi Party founder was a three-time chief minister of UP and also served as the country's Defence Minister. He'd been ailing for months before he died yesterday at a hospital in Gurugram. He was 82.
His son Akhilesh Yadav, the current SP chief and a former chief minister, lit the pyre.
Uttar Pradesh's BJP government has declared a three-day state mourning.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh of the BJP represented the central government. Chief Ministers of Telangana and Chhattisgarh, K Chandrasekhar Rao of the TRS and Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress, were among the attendees.
Supporters chanted "Netaji amar rahein" ('Dear Leader Lives On') as they walked with the vehicle carrying his body.
Actor Abhishek Bachchan, whose father Amitabh Bachchan was among Mulayam Singh Yadav's old acquaintances, was part of the funeral procession.
Also present was Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, along with Congress's Kamal Nath from Madhya Pradesh and TDP's N Chandrababu Naidu from Andhra Pradesh.
Yogi Adityanath greets Akhilesh Yadav as he arrives to pay last respects to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
UP Deputy Chief Ministers Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya also paid last respects to Mulayam Singh Yadav at the family house earlier, where his body was kept since last evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his condolence message: "Mulayam Singh Yadav Ji distinguished himself in UP and national politics. He was a key soldier for democracy during the Emergency. As Defence Minister, he worked for a stronger India. His Parliamentary interventions were insightful and emphasised on furthering national interest."
An eight-time MLA and seven-time MP, Mulayam Singh Yadav worked as a teacher before entering politics fulltime in the mid-1960s. He was from a farming family and trained as a wrestler. He became a political heavyweight when a new assertion by backward castes led to a churn across India in the 1980s and 1990s.
After working with Janata Dal and other parties, he formed Samajwadi Party in 1992, He handed over the baton to son Akhilesh gradually over the past decade as age-related illnesses meant he could no longer be a hands-on leader.
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