A socialist and always a Mulayam man

A socialist who trained with Madhu Limaye,he started his political career at Allahabad University in the late 60s. He gained prominence in the university for an agitation during which he attempted to storm Anand Bhavan,the ancestral house of Jawaharlal Nehru which is considered a Congress symbol in Allahabad in 1966. He was elected president of the Allahabad University Students Union in 1968-69.

A close associate of Limaye,he participated in the JP movement and was jailed for 20 months during Emergency. He was later elected to the UP assembly and made a Minister of State.

He had thrown his lot with Mulayam Singh Yadav during Yadav’s power tussle with rivals and had become closely associated with the SP chief. He was elected to the Lok Sabha,first as a Janata Dal candidate,and twice as SP candidate.

An effective parliamentarian,Mohan Singh was conferred with the best parliamentarian award in 2008 when he was Lok Sabha member. He lost the last Lok Sabha elections. The SP chief sent him to the Rajya Sabha in 2010.

Singh was a man of letters and apart from writing columns in newspapers,had written several books including,History of Socialist Movement,Dr Ambedkar — A

Multifaceted Personality,and Freedom Movement and Socialist Contribution,and was reportedly compiling recollections of his political journey before his death.

The SP chief used to entrust him with the political literature of the party,including election manifestos.

In the run up to the 2012 Assembly elections on the issue of induction of controversial leader D P Yadav,Singh had contradicted Akhilesh Yadav. Singh was soon divested of his responsibility as national spokesman of the party. Mulayam and Akhilesh today mourned the death as a loss for the party. The body will be taken to Lucknow for people to pay respect and the last rites will be performed at his native place in Deoria.