Mulayam Singh Yadav - An Encounter !!

I have had several encounters with the Samajwadi Party leader Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav but the first one stands out. I must be only a cub reporter in Mumbai when the Samajwadi Party decided to enter electoral politics in Bombay, then deeply polarised due to the communal riots following the demolition of the Babri Mosque. In college I usually preferred the front desk but covering political pressers I would normally sit on the last seat, last row. The advantage of being a newspaper reporter was the anonymity. Nobody bothered about who you were. But covering the Samajwadi Party presser at the Taj Mahal Hotel I took my usual last seat, dreaming about the pastries that would follow the presser. When suddenly there was a hustle and security and entered Netaji or Mulayam Singh Yadav. But he did not go to the podium instead walked past all the benches to the last seat. He was standing right before me before he shook my hands and said, "I am Mulayam Singh Yadav. "