INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PATNA: Veteran socialist and previous Union minister Sharad Yadav died Thursday at the age of 75, marking the end of an age that saw him
elected to the Lok Sabha 7 times and hobnob with a pantheon of political stars varying from Jayaprakash Narayan to Lalu Prasad
His daughter Subhashini Sharad Yadav shared the news of his handing down social networks with a three-word post: Papa nahi rahen (Papa is
An engineer by training, Yadav had been drawn to Ram Manohar Lohias socialism and broke into politics in 1974 when he managed an upset in
the byelection to the Jabalpur Lok Sabha seat as the joint opposition prospect
His triumph in the election, held versus the background of spiralling demonstrations versus the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government, was
as much an embarrassment for the then PM as it was a fillip for Jayaprakashs effort to bring opposition parties together versus
Congress.Yadav would go on to make his mark as a powerful orator and retain Jabalpur in 1977, only to lose it in the next election-- a
problem that forced him to explore options outside his home state and brought him first to UP and, finally, to Bihar, which was to become
He was a member of the Union cabinets of V P Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Although pressed to the margins in his golden years, Yadav
played a crucial function in forming politics throughout the 1980s and the 90s
He played a crucial function in the development of Janata Dal in the 1980s to successfully handle Congress in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls and
was amongst the crucial players who dominated on the then PM V P Singh to implement the Mandal Commission report
He likewise organised the OBC resistance to the proposal to present 33% appointment for women, dismissing the demand as a conspiracy of the
upper caste elite and buffooning the ladies activists promoting it as parkatis
Although counted among the leading OBC lights who turned their version of quota-centric social justice and hardline secularism into one of
the key themes of modern politics, Yadav had a chequered formula with socialists and Mandalites alike
His ties with Devi Lal and George Fernandes, and even V P Singh, followed a yo-yo pattern
He couldnt get along with Mulayam Singh Yadav either
His ties with Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar ebbed and flowed, depending on each others political requirements of the moment.After losing to
BJP in Badaun, the seat which he had actually won in 1989, Yadav moved to Madhepura in Bihar
He was elected from the Yadav bastion in 1991, 1996, 1999 and 2009
He handled portfolios of civil aviation and food in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led federal government from 1999 to 2004
In in between, he likewise became the president of the JD(U) after Janata Dal and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) parted methods
He lost in the 2004 parliamentary surveys but emerged victorious once again in 2009 from Madhepura.Once considered to be good friends, Yadav
and Nitish parted methods prior to he formed his own celebration, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD), in 2018
This coincided with JD(U) inching near to BJP.In the 2017 Bihar assembly elections, when the JD(U) under Nitish realigned with the BJP,
Sharad Yadav declined to follow, for which the JD(U) sought his expulsion from the Rajya Sabha.Later, Yadav parted methods with Nitish Kumar
and founded his own celebration, the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) in 2018
5 years later, in 2022, Yadav combined LJD with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which saw the latter emerging more powerful
His daughter Subhashni was even given area in the RJDs nationwide council
Both Lalu and Nitish refused to be under his tutelage, however were not averse to roping him in when the need arose.The increase of BJP
under Modi pressed him into near obscurity: the last time he made headlines was when he lost the fight to retain his bungalow in Tughlaq
Road and when Rahul Gandhi visited him
Being an astute politician, he checked out the tea lives well and merged his Rashtriya Janata Dal with RJD.Prime Minister Narendra Modi
condoled Yadavs death with a tweet: Pained by the diing of Shri Sharad Yadav Ji
In his long years in public life, he distinguished himself as MP and Minister
He was considerably motivated by Dr
I will constantly treasure our interactions
Condolences to his family and admirers
Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav described him as the Mandal messiah
Tejashwi wrote, I remain in deep sorrow after becoming aware of the demise of this fantastic socialist leader and my guardian
I am unable to state anything
I had a conversation with mata Ji and brother Shantanu
In this time of sorrow, the entire socialist family is with them
