ETAWAH (UP), Nov 22: On Mulayam Singh Yadav’s birth anniversary on Wednesday, senior Samajwadi Party leaders exhorted party workers to strive hard towards making his son and party president Akhilesh Yadav the next prime minister of the country.
At a programme organised in the native village of the Samajwadi Party founder, senior SP office bearers and leaders recalled that “despite being eligible”, Mulayam Singh Yadav could not become the prime minister due to various reasons and stressed that now that dream has to be fulfilled by making Akhilesh the prime minister.
SP’s principal general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav claimed that if SP wins 40 Lok Sabha seats, it party will be in a position to make Akhilesh the prime minister.
Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav was among those who spoke of “fulfilling the dream” of the SP founder by crowning Akhilesh. In an emotion-choked voice, Shivpal Yadav said, “If you decide on Netaji’s birthday, then Akhilesh Yadav will definitely be able to fulfil that dream of all of us. Everyone who is here should decide.” He urged the audience to raise their hands in support.
Addressing the gathering, Akhilesh Yadav said that the real tribute to Mulayam Singh Yadav would be to take the party to new heights by following the path shown by him.
“Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) took decisions which changed the politics of the country. All the people sitting here have some memories of Netaji. Today Netaji is not among us.
“Netaji showed the path of prosperity and development and gave respect to the deprived,” Akhilesh Yadav said at the ‘shradhanjali samaroh’.
Akhilesh Yadav performed ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ and laid the foundation stone of the memorial to be built for his father on 8.3 hectares of land at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore in Saifai.
He said it will become a place of inspiration for the coming generations. “It will act like a lighthouse,” the SP chief said.
Mulayam passed away in October 2022 at the age of 82.
SP national vice president Kiranmoy Nanda said, “When Jyoti Basu himself could not become the prime minister, he had said that Netaji should be made the prime minister because he is the most ideal candidate. We were saddened that Netaji did not become the prime minister.”
“Now we have a chance. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are very near. We want to fulfil our dream that has remained unfulfilled and in 2024, we will send Akhilesh Yadav from Uttar Pradesh and make him the prime minister of the country,” Nanda said.
SP national general secretary Ramjilal Suman also spoke in the same vein.
Without naming anyone, Ram Gopal Yadav said that in 1997, it was because of the Marxists that Mualayan could not become the leader of the United Front and the prime minister.
“Marxists felt that if any opposition is formed then the leadership should remain in their hands and not in the hands of socialists. I do not want to take names but the biggest conspiracy took place from there so that Mulayam Singh should not become the prime minister,” he said.
Samajwadi Party and Left parties are part of the opposition grouping Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) formed to take on the BJP in the general elections.
No name has yet been put forth by the alliance as a contender for the post of prime minister.
Former MP from Badaun Dharmendra Yadav said, “Create such a situation in the next Lok Sabha elections that whoever SP president Akhilesh Yadav wants becomes the prime minister of the country.”
After the SP was not given seats in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, there was a public spat between the party and the Congress. However, later Akhilesh Yadav had said that he is part of the INDIA grouping for the Lok Sabha elections.
At the SP state executive meeting held in Lucknow last month, he had talked about fielding candidates on 65 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Paying tributes to his father on Wednesday, Akhilesh Yadav said, “Many people suggested that his memorial should be built in Lucknow but later it was decided that the best memorial in the country would be built in Saifai, the soil where Mulayam Singh grew up and did politics.”
“Like former American President Abraham Lincoln, Mulayam Singh Yadav has also changed the lives of crores of people and given them respect, hence Yadav’s memorial will also be built taking inspiration from Lincoln’s Memorial,” he said. (PTI)
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