Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said Mulayam Singh Yadav had taught the poor, Dalits and the oppressed to live with honour and amity.
Paying tribute to his father during a 'Dharti Putr Divas' programme in Saifai on the Samajwadi Party founder's 83rd birth anniversary, Akhilesh Yadav said as defence minister, 'Netaji' (Mulayam Singh Yadav) had provisioned for bodies of martyrs to reach home with full respect.
Mulayam Singh Yadav (82) died in a Gurugram hospital on October 10. The Samajwadi Party is observing his birth anniversary as 'Dharti Putr Divas'.
"Netaji' took forward the politics of amity and took socialism to a new height. We will move on the path shown by him, take society forward; only then will the country move forward," he said.
In Saifai, Mulayam Singh Yadav's birthplace, family members and party leaders paid floral tributes to his memorial.
Speaking on the occasion, former Rajya Sabha MP Uday Pratap Singh, said, "Mulayam was the first of my students. He was then my teacher and became my political guru (mentor).
"When I entered school as a teacher in 1958, he (Mulayam) was my student and later he became 'Netaji'. Today, everyone knows him as 'Netaji."
He added that the society and the country would move forward by following the path of socialism and it was only possible with a 'Samajwadi' (socialist) government.
The socialist movement of 'Netaji' has to be taken forward and made more vocal, he said, adding that a true tribute to 'Netaji' would be the formation of a Samajwadi government.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief and Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, senior Samajwadi Party leader Kiranmoy Nanda and other party leaders were also present on the occasion.
Mulayam Singh Yadav's birth anniversary was also observed at the party's state unit office in Lucknow and other districts, the Samajwadi Party said in a statement issued here.
A three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav was born on November 22, 1939, in Saifai, Etawah.
