Phoolan Devi: From The Bandit Queen Of India To Member Of Parliament

She killed 22 Thakurs in Behmai on February 14, 1981. This incident brought Phoolan Devi’s name to everyone’s lips. Phoolan Devi said that she had committed these murders to take revenge. She said that the Thakurs had gang-raped her and to take revenge for that she had committed these murders. 

Phoolan Devi surrendered in 1983 and remained in jail until 1994. During this time, she was never sent to jail in Uttar Pradesh. After being released from jail in 1994, she was elected as an MP in 1996. When the Samajwadi Party gave her a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections, there was a lot of uproar that a dacoit was being shown the way to reach Parliament. 

Phoolan was very irritable by nature and did not talk to anyone, and if she did, some abuse would come out of her mouth. Phoolan Devi especially avoided talking to journalists. Her surrender was a historic event because after that the terror of active dacoits in the ravines of Chambal gradually ended. Active dacoits were a big headache for the governments of many states in the ravines of Chambal and in some areas they did not dare to challenge their rule.

Phoolan Devi was suspicious that the Uttar Pradesh police would kill her in some way or another after surrendering, so she bargained to surrender her weapons in front of the Madhya Pradesh government. She surrendered her weapons in a ceremony in front of the then MP Chief Minister Arjun Singh and at that time thousands of people gathered to catch a glimpse of her.

At that time, Phoolan Devi’s popularity was no less than a film star. Phoolan Devi had tied a red cloth on her forehead and had a gun in her hand when she walked towards the stage, everyone’s breath seemed to stop. ‘Will Phoolan fire a bullet here too?’ And in a few moments, Phoolan Devi touched her gun to her forehead and then placed it at Arjun Singh’s feet. At that moment, Phoolan Devi had bid farewell to the life of a dacoit.

In 1994, Shekhar Kapur made a film on her life called ‘Bandit Queen’ which became very popular in Europe. The film also remained controversial for some scenes and Phoolan Devi’s language. The film portrayed Phoolan Devi as a brave woman who fought against the wrong practices of society.