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Mulayam Singh Yadav, his alma mater and Karhal connection
Shops remained closed in Karhal town in Mainpuri district as a mark of respect to Mulayam Singh Yadav who passed away in a Gurugram hospital on Monday morning
Mulayam Singh Yadav never forgot his alma mater, Jain Inter College at Karhal in Mainpuri, the parliamentary constituency he represented.
Teachers of the institution gathered on its premises on Monday morning despite a holiday having been declared due to heavy rain and remembered the Samajwadi Party patriarch who passed away hours earlier.
Shops remained closed in Karhal town in Mainpuri district as a mark of respect to Mulayam Singh Yadav who passed away in a Gurugram hospital on Monday morning. Karhal is under Mainpuri, the Lok Sabha seat which Mulayam won in 1996, 2004, 2009 and 2014. In 2014, he was also elected from Azamgarh and chose to vacate Mainpuri. He again won from Mainpuri in 2019 and was the sitting MP till his death.
“We are shocked to lose netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav). He visited the school whenever he came to Karhal. He made his school proud and never forgot it even after becoming minister, chief minister or defence minister,” said Yaduveer Narain Dubey, the present principal of Jain Inter College in Karhal, an assembly constituency currently represented by Mulayam’s son and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
“Netaji joined Jain Inter College as a student of the sixth standard in 1955 and passed out in 1959 before moving to AK Degree College in Shikohabad (Firozabad) for graduation. He returned to Jain Inter College as an assistant teacher in 1963 and was promoted to lecturer in 1974. He taught political science to classes 11 and 12 till he left the job in 1984,” said Dubey, adding that a condolence meeting will be held in the school on Tuesday.
“Netaji used to visit his school whenever he liked and there was no need for advance information. The facilities in the school, be it computer lab or others, were all provided by Netaji at the very first request. Any school can be proud of such a student who remained loyal to his alma mater despite his busy political career,” the principal said.
Pankaj Bharti, who runs electronic appliances shop in Karhal, said, “Despite his political stature and busy schedule, he made sure to keep his commitment to those known to him. He attended every function of our family. He was there as a guardian for us in any hour of need. When Mulayam Singh Yadav joined Jain Inter College as a teacher in 1963, my grandfather Paras Dass Bharti was the manager here.”
Mulayam had lived in Karhal when he was a student of Jain Inter College. Pankaj’s grandfather and Mulayam’s father were friends.
“I was 12 when Mulayam Singh Yadav came to our house after becoming cooperative minister in the state cabinet in 1977. Cars and jeeps were not that common here in the sleepy town of Karhal, but a fleet of vehicles accompanied netaji. Nevertheless, he was the same elder once he entered the house and met the family members,” recollected Pankaj Bharti.
“It was this connect, which used to take the whole population of Karhal to Jaswant Nagar, the constituency from which he contested elections. This was the bond which got his son Akhilesh Yadav elected from Karhal assembly seat this year,” he added.
Another acquaintance Subhash Chandra Yadav recalled, “He (MSY) made me minister of state and MLC twice just because I am the son of his “political guru” Late Nathhu Singh Yadav who allowed him to contest from Jaswant Nagar assembl constituency for the first time in 1967 and win.”
“I used to ride a Rajdoot motorcycle with Mulayam Singh Yadav riding pillion on the dusty rural tracks in the 1960s. Once Mulayam’s leg sustained a burn injury after coming in contact with the bike’s hot silencer but that did not stop him from campaigning,” Subhash Chandra Yadav said.
