The year 1990 was a turning point in Indian politics when Prime Minister VP Singh, a Rajput, accepted the recommendations of the Mandal Commission and implemented a 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in government jobs.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to counter the challenges of 'Mandal' politics through 'kamandal' politics by vehemently propagating the Ram mandir issue in Ayodhya, even as the vacuum left by the death of Chaudhary Charan Singh, a stalwart farmer leader who served as the fifth prime minister of India, was yet to be filled in UP politics. There was no prominent leadership within the OBC communities who could have united them.
This very moment was seized by former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, who passed away on Monday, 10 October, marking the end of an era in UP politics.
Mulayam Singh Yadav tried to fill the vacuum left by Lohia and Charan Singh through his brand of grassroots politics to make a mark in UP. Meanwhile, in Bihar, the legacy of Lohia was split into three between Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, and Ramvilas Paswan.