Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was a man of conviction. As chief minister, he never hesitated in taking harsh measures against kar sewaks to save the disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1990 or in issuing the release order for ‘bandit queen’ Phoolan Devi, withdrawing all 55 criminal cases lodged against her in 1994. He was also instrumental in keeping central UP free from gangs of dacoits.
Mulayam’s decision to withdraw cases against Phoolan shocked the nation. Yet, he decided to field her as the party candidate from Mirzapur in the 1996 Lok Sabha election. Phoolan had shot to notoriety when she along with her gang of 35 dacoits massacred 22 Thakurs of Behmai village in Kanpur Dehat on February 14, 1981. Two years after the massacre, Phoolan and 25 members of her gang surrendered in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh on February 12, 1984. After spending around nine-odd years in Gwalior Central Jail, Phoolan was shifted to Tihar in October 1993.
Mulayam’s sympathy with Phoolan whose surrender was negotiated by the then Madhya Pradesh CM Arjun Singh on the directives of PM Indira Gandhi took the entire nation by storm. He was given coverage by The New York Times over his decision.
However, despite all the criticism, Mulayam remained firm on his decision which was later struck down by the court. The former dacoit queen was released on parole by the Supreme Court and went on to win Mirzapur polls as an SP candidate in 1996. “Mulayam had promoted Phoolan not only to foil an equally belligerent Mayawati as his party’s honeymoon with the BSP had ended on a bitter note in 1995, but also to woo the Mallah-Kachchi-Kewat (boatmen) votes,” says Prof AK Mishra, a political scientist.
Moreover, the SP patriarch is also known to have played a crucial role in ridding the ravines of Chambal and Yamuna, spread across central UP, from the reign of terror of dacoits. Mulayam, in collaboration with the MP government, had been instrumental in the elimination of at least a dozen known dacoits active in the ravines of Etawah,
Auraiyya, Jalaun districts of UP and Bhind, Gwalior and Muraina of Madhya Pradesh. Mulayam’s approach as UP CM towards the issue in the 90s led at least 50 dacoits to surrender in UP and MP jointly.The drive against dacoits active in the Chambal ravines continued vigorously during Mulayam’s last tenure as the UP CM between 2003 and 2007.
Mulayam, who belonged to Saifai in western Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district, had seen dacoits operating with impunity in the central UP since his childhood. Former Inspector Ramnath Yadav recalls that in 2004, dacoits had come to depend mainly on abductions for heavy ransom. They had abducted a Kanpur-based doctor and took him to Beehad. “Mulayam called up the then Etawah SSP Akhilesh Mehrotra and ordered a vigorous campaign for the elimination of dacoits present in the area,” said Ramnath Yadav.
A ministerial tiff that led to creation of U’khandDehradun: It was the result of an ideological confrontation between then defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and former PM Chandra Shekhar that led to the creation of a separate Uttarakhand. Chandra Shekhar was not in favour of small states at all, due to which Mulayam Singh left the Samajwadi Janata Party led by Chandra Shekhar and formed the Samajwadi Party. “The concept and foundation of the formation of the Samajwadi Party was laid in Dehradun itself,” said Suryakant Dhasmana, senior vice-president of the state Congress, the then chairman of the drafting committee of the Vinod Barthwal committee. ens
LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was a man of conviction. As chief minister, he never hesitated in taking harsh measures against kar sewaks to save the disputed structure in Ayodhya in 1990 or in issuing the release order for ‘bandit queen’ Phoolan Devi, withdrawing all 55 criminal cases lodged against her in 1994. He was also instrumental in keeping central UP free from gangs of dacoits.
Mulayam’s decision to withdraw cases against Phoolan shocked the nation. Yet, he decided to field her as the party candidate from Mirzapur in the 1996 Lok Sabha election. Phoolan had shot to notoriety when she along with her gang of 35 dacoits massacred 22 Thakurs of Behmai village in Kanpur Dehat on February 14, 1981. Two years after the massacre, Phoolan and 25 members of her gang surrendered in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh on February 12, 1984. After spending around nine-odd years in Gwalior Central Jail, Phoolan was shifted to Tihar in October 1993.
Mulayam’s sympathy with Phoolan whose surrender was negotiated by the then Madhya Pradesh CM Arjun Singh on the directives of PM Indira Gandhi took the entire nation by storm. He was given coverage by The New York Times over his decision.
However, despite all the criticism, Mulayam remained firm on his decision which was later struck down by the court. The former dacoit queen was released on parole by the Supreme Court and went on to win Mirzapur polls as an SP candidate in 1996. “Mulayam had promoted Phoolan not only to foil an equally belligerent Mayawati as his party’s honeymoon with the BSP had ended on a bitter note in 1995, but also to woo the Mallah-Kachchi-Kewat (boatmen) votes,” says Prof AK Mishra, a political scientist.
Moreover, the SP patriarch is also known to have played a crucial role in ridding the ravines of Chambal and Yamuna, spread across central UP, from the reign of terror of dacoits. Mulayam, in collaboration with the MP government, had been instrumental in the elimination of at least a dozen known dacoits active in the ravines of Etawah,
Auraiyya, Jalaun districts of UP and Bhind, Gwalior and Muraina of Madhya Pradesh. Mulayam’s approach as UP CM towards the issue in the 90s led at least 50 dacoits to surrender in UP and MP jointly.
The drive against dacoits active in the Chambal ravines continued vigorously during Mulayam’s last tenure as the UP CM between 2003 and 2007.
Mulayam, who belonged to Saifai in western Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district, had seen dacoits operating with impunity in the central UP since his childhood. Former Inspector Ramnath Yadav recalls that in 2004, dacoits had come to depend mainly on abductions for heavy ransom. They had abducted a Kanpur-based doctor and took him to Beehad. “Mulayam called up the then Etawah SSP Akhilesh Mehrotra and ordered a vigorous campaign for the elimination of dacoits present in the area,” said Ramnath Yadav.
A ministerial tiff that led to creation of U’khand
Dehradun: It was the result of an ideological confrontation between then defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and former PM Chandra Shekhar that led to the creation of a separate Uttarakhand. Chandra Shekhar was not in favour of small states at all, due to which Mulayam Singh left the Samajwadi Janata Party led by Chandra Shekhar and formed the Samajwadi Party. “The concept and foundation of the formation of the Samajwadi Party was laid in Dehradun itself,” said Suryakant Dhasmana, senior vice-president of the state Congress, the then chairman of the drafting committee of the Vinod Barthwal committee. ens
