Political leaders from across party lines gathered to pay their last respects at the residence of socialist stalwart Sharad Yadav, who passed away on Thursday night. He passed away on Thursday night. As they bid a final farewell to the man who famously coined the phrase “Mandal vs Kamandal” to criticise the BJP for trying to neutralise backward class politics using Hindutva, many of his co-travellers looked back at the battles they fought together.
Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury were among the leaders who paid tributes to Sharad Yadav at his residence.
Mr. Yechury said that the two had spoken over telephone just a couple of days ago. “He wanted to talk about the roadmap ahead for the Opposition. I was in Tripura and told him that I will meet him when I am back. Tragically, the day I returned he is gone,” said the CPI(M) leader. The two had known each other for more than five decades, since they were both leaders in student politics — Yadav heading the Yuva Janata Dal and Mr. Yechury as president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Unversity student union.
Mr. Yechury recalled that when he entered the Rajya Sabha in 2005, Yadav was already a veteran Parliamentarian, having first entered the hallowed hall in 1974 as the joint Opposition candidate from Jabalpur. “We shared a desk in the Rajya Sabha with Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party supremo) and Ramgopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party leader). We had our share of agreements and disagreements including our diametrically opposite stances on the Women’s Reservation Bill,” he reminisced. Just last month, while delivering an address at the Rashtriya Janata Dal convention in Delhi, Yadav had emphasised the need for Opposition parties to come together to counter the BJP ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi meets Shantanu Bundela, son of former Union Minister and RJD leader Sharad Yadav who passed away at the age of 75, during the last rites, in New Delhi on Friday. | Photo Credit: ANI
Mr. Gandhi reached Yadav’s residence at 8:30 a.m., travelling back from Punjab, where the Bharat Jodo Yatra is camping. Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Gandhi said that he had learnt a lot from Yadav, especially on how to maintain decorum and dignity in political life. “My grandmother Indira Gandhi and Sharad ji were political rivals but always maintained a relationship of mutual respect,” he said.
Another of his comrades, RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari, who couldn’t come down to Delhi, recalled how Yadav’s association with Bihar was a matter of chance. “In 1991, the Madhepura Lok Sabha seat fell vacant and many of us, Nitish ji, Lalu ji ensured that Sharad ji was fielded from here. This was his first electoral battle in Bihar and the beginning of his lifelong association with Bihar,” Mr. Tiwari said. Yadav went on to win from Madhepura four times.
Yadav’s dedication towards backward class politics often saw him cross swords with leaders of his own party. Mr. Tiwari recalls the Women’s Reservation Bill in particular, when he took his then-party leader Nitish Kumar head on. Mr. Kumar favoured the bill, while Yadav insisted on provision of reservation for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Bill. “Between the two, the other MPs of the party were put in particularly uncomfortable situation,” he said.
Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Rabri Devi offers condolences to Rekha Yadav, wife of former union minister Sharad Yadav, at Chhatarpur in New Delhi on Jan. 13, 2023. | Photo Credit: PTI
Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi also arrived at Yadav’s residence to pay her last respects. Yadav merged his Loktrantrik Janata Dal, a party he floated in 2018, with the RJD in March 2022. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, MP Ramesh Bidhuri, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s wife Savitri Singh, Haryana Chief Minister M.L. Khatter, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav and the RJD’s Manoj Jha were also among the leaders who paid tributes to Yadav.
Yadav died at a private hospital in Gurugram on Thursday. He was 75. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. His mortal remains will be taken to his native village Ankhmau in the Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh, where the cremation will be performed on Saturday.
