Samajwadi Party Leader Demands Bharat Ratna For Mulayam Singh Yadav

Samajwadi Party leader I P Singh on Wednesday demanded the departed party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav be conferred with the country's highest civilian award -- the 'Bharat Ratna'.

The party spokesperson also demanded the Agra-Lucknow expressway be renamed Dhartiputra Mulayam Singh Yadav Expressway in respect of the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, who died Monday, aged 82.

In a letter to President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday, Mr Singh said a golden chapter of socialism in the country has ended with the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav "who fought the historic battle of social justice and dedicated his life to the nation".

"He was chief minister of Uttar Pradesh thrice as well as the defence minister once, but he always remained a grassroots leader. He was a messiah of the poor and did politics for their welfare," Mr Singh said in his letter in Hindi on the party letterhead.

"The entire country is mourning the death of Yadav and there is a sense of despair among all. In such a situation, taking care of the sentiments of crores of his supporters and every soldier of socialist ideology, an immediate announcement should be made to confer the country's highest civilian award 'Bharat Ratna' on Yadav," he said.

Mr Singh separately wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, requesting him to rename the Agra-Lucknow Expressway as Dhartiputra Mulayam Singh Yadav Expressway. The Samajwadi Party founder breathed his last on October 10 at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.

His last rites were performed on Tuesday at his native Saifai village.

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