God's Own Constituency (5)

                                               Bandit Queen Begins Political journey

                                              Varanasi April 14 , 1996. She bade farewell to arms 13 years ago and now she has to explain in people's court why, in the first place, took up arms.

                                                Phoolan Devi yesterday's terror of Chambal ravines and today"s candidate from Mirzapur-Bhadohi constituency, is putting her case before the electorates in all humility with folded hands.

                                                Mirzapur, hemmed between two Kaval town Allahabad and Varanasi- is known globally for its thriving carpet industry which has recently been stigmatised by child labour. Phoolan is being greeted by curious crowds. The instant response of the village women towards Phoolan, moving around with heavy security cordon, is : She does not look like a dacoit, she is very much like us.

                                              However, she is finding that mass politics is as rough and tough as life in Chambal ravines. She has to contend with the sitting Bharatiya janata Party MP Virendra Singh, a former national level wrestler from Banaras hindu University , who is sparing no effort to put his rivals on the mat.

                                              The former dacoit and the pehalvan quite often engage in a verbal duel using rustic and at times, offensive language much to the amusement of the villagers and media persons.

                                             A total 61 candidates are in the fray in this constituency. But a triangular contest is emerging involving Phoolan, Virendra Singh and Ram Kishore Bind, Bahujan Samaj Party candidate and as former minister.Hiramani Singh(Congress) and Mata Prasad Dubey (Congress Tiwari) are among other contestants, Virendra Singh had won this seat in 1991 defeating veteran trade union leader and Janata Dal nominee Yusuf Beg by a margin of 20,000 votes.

                                            Phoolan started her high profile campaign by offering prayers to Vindhyavasini, the presiding deity at the famous Shakti Peetha Vindhyachal near her. She pleads in small and big gathering in the villages, " I am not a bon dacoit. We were forced to go to Chambal ravines"

                                            " I also did many good things. Suddenly she changes over to high pitch, I had looted only those who had robbed the poor villagers."

                                           Virendra Singh uses Phoolan's past to turn voters in his favour. " I will not let Mirzapur Bhadohi become another Chambal. Do you want to be represented in the parliament by a Behmai killer, he says with reference to the massacre Phoolan's gang had allegedly carried out in Behmai village in Uttar Pradesh.

                                           BSP candidate Ram Kishore Bind also challenges the claim of Phoolan as fighter for the Dalit cause. He seeks to know why Phoolan accepted the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was instrumental in the assault on Mayawati." " Going to Chambal and killing people is no certificate for a genuine Dalit leader,"he added.

                                          The constituency has a substantial number of Muslims, Mallahs, Binds, Yadavs and Kurmis. One assembly constituency, Auria, has a large number of Brahmins.

                                           Toeing the political line of her mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav, Phoolan says,      " we will not allow communal forces to declare India a Hindu State. "We will force those people to leave the country who are making such threats to the minority community."

                                           Political observers believe that it is a clever move on the part of Mulayam Singh Yadav to field Phoolan who belongs to Mallah caste. She is expected to get support of a major chunk of voters from her caste besides Yadavs and Muslims , who constitute Mulayam's vote bank.

                                          Senior Congress leader Lokpati Tripathi says, " Caste based voting behaviour is not that simple. Mallahs and Binds are supposed to be from similar caste group but maintain a distance from each other in the matter of roti and beti ( not dining together and refraining from inter caste marriage). Even politically Mallah and Binds often take opposite sides.