The former three-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister died aged 82 at a private hospital in Haryana’s Gurugram on Monday.
His body was brought to Saifai on Monday evening and kept at his ‘kothi’, where thousands descended to pay their last respects to their “netaji”, as he was fondly called.
Yadav’s body was moved around 10am on Tuesday from the house to a bigger hall on the Mela Ground premises, around one km away, to allow people to pay their last respects. The former CM’s son Akhilesh Yadav, brother Shivpal Yadav and other family members were onboard the truck decked up with garlands of flowers.
A huge crowd of people marched along as the vehicle moved slowly amid a light drizzle.
Frequent chants of ” netaji amar rahe, amar rahe amar rahe (long live netaji!)” by lakhs of people rent the air.
Leaders attend funeral
Cutting across party lines, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, and Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav were among several senior leaders who attended the funeral.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, former MP CM Kamal Nath, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu, and former Union minister of state Praful Patel were among the other dignitaries who paid their tributes to the socialist leader at the Saifai Mela Ground on Tuesday.
Uttar Pradesh deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were also seen offering their condolences to Yadav’s son and incumbent SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan also attended the funeral along with her actor son Abhishek Bachchan.
(With inputs from agencies)
