Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday address an event marking the 10th death anniversary of former Rajya Sabha MP Harmohan Singh Yadav via video conferencing, officials said.
The prime minister’s participation is in recognition of the great contribution of the late leader for farmers, backward classes and other sections of the society, the officials said.
Harmohan Singh Yadav was a towering figure and leader of the Yadav community. He remained active in politics for a long time. His son Sukhram Singh Yadav was also a Rajya Sabha MP.
He entered into politics when he was 31 and became village ‘pradhan’ in 1952. He served in various capacities including as MLC and MLA in Uttar Pradesh from 1970 to 1990. In 1991, he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha for the first time and served as a member of several parliamentary committees. In 1997, he was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha for the second time. He also served as the national chairman of ‘Akhil Bhartiya Yadav Mahasabha’.
Harmohan Singh Yadav had close relations with Chaudhary Charan Singh and Ram Manohar Lohia. He resisted the Emergency and was also jailed while protesting for rights of farmers.
He was an important leader of the Samajwadi Party and had very close relations with Mulayam Singh Yadav. After the death of Chaudhary Charan Singh, it was Harmohan Yadav who proposed to the Yadav Mahasabha that Mulayam Singh Yadav should become their leader now. Six years before the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place, Harmohan Yadav and his family moved to a new place where most of the population was Sikh.
During the 1984 riots, Yadav was at home with his son Sukhram. Local Sikhs went to Yadav’s house for shelter, and the Yadav family protected them from attack until the attackers were dispersed or arrested. For protecting the lives of the Sikhs, then President R Venkataraman awarded Yadav the Shaurya Chakra in 1991, an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice.
