February 23, 1998

Mirzapur Uttar Pradesh
Electorate: 13.1 lakh
Main Rival: V Singh (BJP)

The past still sells for Phoolan Devi. If she was a victim once, then it is an image she continues to persist with. In the poverty-stricken terrain of Mirzapur-Bhadoi, the epicentre of class struggle in eastern Uttar Pradesh, she talks of little else. Phoolan the victim of feudal forces, Phoolan the victim of the "sampradaik" (communal) Kalyan Singh Government. "I could not come to you earlier to fulfil my promises as Kalyan Singh's police had got a warrant of arrest issued against me. I sold my ornaments, household effects to get the warrant nullified."

They believe her. At Nadauli-Badauli village one night, men and women in torn dhotis, half-fed children, beg her to free them from the tyranny of the landlords. Koles, Bhils and Dalits, looking like the textbook case of the bonded labour system, plead with her: "Aap humein bachao, hum aapko jitayenge (save us from the landlords, we will help you win again)."

The victim, who won in 1996 too on a Samajwadi Party ticket, vows to play saviour again.

-- Subhash Mishra

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