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BJP-Mulayam meet creates buzz ahead of record memorial meetings for Kalyan Singh
Ahead of the memorial meeting in Lucknow to honour Kalyan Singh, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev paid a surprise visit to the Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav. The visit was described as a “courtesy call” by the BJP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is holding ‘Shraddhanjali Sabhas’ or memorial meetings across 1918 places in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in honour of former UP chief minister and Hindutva icon Kalyan Singh; and the biggest of these events in Lucknow is being attended by a galaxy of top BJP leaders on Tuesday afternoon.
The BJP has already named two medical institutes in Lucknow and Bulandshahr after Kalyan Singh and more such dedications are in the offing as the party looks to play up the Other Backward Caste (OBC)-Hindutva connect that Kalyan Singh represented ahead of assembly elections early next year.
Kalyan Singh, a Lodh, was not just a powerful OBC leader but also a torch bearer of the Ayodhya temple movement and he formed a heady cocktail of the two to become the first BJP chief minister of politically most important state of Uttar Pradesh in 1991.
He died after a long illness at Lucknow’s Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) on August 21. Top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union home minister Amit Shah flew down to UP to pay their last respects to the late leader. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who himself escorted Kalyan’s mortal remains on all three-days while they were moved to different parts of the state for people to pay their last respects, had declared a three-day mourning in the state in Kalyan’s honour.
Ahead of the memorial meeting in Lucknow, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev paid a surprise visit to the Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav. The visit was described as a “courtesy call” by the BJP.
A picture of the two leaders meeting was shared by the UP BJP chief on his official twitter handle. “I met respected Mulayam Singh ji ‘netaji’ at his residence to inquire about his well being and received his blessings. I pray to God for his good health and long life,” Swatantra Dev tweeted.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of the BJP’s heavy criticism of Mulayam’s son and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for not paying last respects to Kalyan Singh in person. Therefore, much significance was attached to Swatantra Dev-- who is himself an OBC representing the Kurmi sub caste-- visiting the SP patron, an OBC and a three-term former chief minister.
A buzz gained ground that BJP chief visited Mulayam to invite him for Lucknow’s ‘shraddhanjali sabha’, to be also attended by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, defence minister Rajnath Singh, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) veterans. Some prominent Muslim clerics like Kalbe Jawad, too, are likely to attend the memorial meet in Lucknow, BJP leaders said.
The BJP, however, rejected speculations that the meeting with Mulayam Singh was to invite him to the memorial meet.
“It was a courtesy visit by the party chief and I think [it] denotes a healthy trend in our democracy,” said UP BJP leader Himanshu Dubey.
According to speculations fuelled by the SP camp, Mulayam Singh asked the UP BJP chief to join SP during the meeting. “You are doing good work. I have told you many times that you should be in SP and rise.” However, there was no confirmation of the same.
