The 92-year-old veteran leader had been fighting illness for several days and was undergoing treatment at a Kanpur hospital. According to certain media reports, Yadav recently returned home from hospital but his health deteriorated again leading to his unfortunate demise. His last rites were performed on Sunday in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya district.
As soon as the news broke out, a wave of mourning instilled in the supporters. However, soon a confusion brewed up on social media as netizens mistook the late Mulayam Singh with Samajwadi Party founder-patron Mulayam Singh Yadav. As the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister shares his name with MLC Mulayam Singh Yadav, several twitteratis extended condolences and ended up tagging the the SP founder.
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Yadav had started his political career at a young age when he was elected sarpanch of his village at the age of 21 in the year 1949. He was the block chief for 15 years and a member of the Legislative Council for 20 consecutive years.
Current Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav expressed grief over over the veteran party leader's demise saying that Mulayam during his active years worked for farmers, poor and people from underprivileged background. Besides Akhilesh Yadav, several other ministers and leaders cutting across the political parties mourned the death of Mulayam Singh.