Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) Party has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to free her properties of Phoolan Devi from alleged Samajwadi Party-sponsored mafias and transfer it to her mother.
The party claimed that the former MP and reformed dacoit queen of Chambal was a role model not only for the fishermen’s community but also for the women of the world at large.
On the 23rd death anniversary of Phoolan Devi, popularly known as Bandit Queen, on Tuesday, Nishad Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Fishery Minister Sanjay Nishad has written to the PM, Union Home ministry and UP Chief Minister with demanding return of the properties of Phoolan Devi, besides recommending CBI probe into her murder.
He said Phoolan Devi fought from the road to Parliament to protect the dignity of women and fight for their rights against oppression and tyranny, harassment and exploitation.
“Nishad Party is following the ideals and footprints of Phoolan Devi and has always raised its voice in the interest of the exploited, deprived and backward,” he said in the letter.
Besides returning the properties of Phoolan Devi to her mother and CBI probe of her murder, the party also demanded opening of a women’s self defence centre in the name of Phoolan Devi and her village should be developed as a model village.
Sanjay Nishad said he has hope that the Central and state government will take effective steps on our demands.
Phoolan Devi was a Lok Sabha member of the Samajwadi Party from Mirzapur in 1996. She was shot dead in New Delhi on July 25, 2001 by one Sher Singh Rana. Her worldwide fame grew after the release of the film Bandit Queen in 1994, which depicts her life story.
Phoolan Devi was charged for the 1981 Behmai massacre, in which 20 people of a particular caste were executed, allegedly on her direction. She surrendered two years later in a negotiated settlement and spent eleven years in Gwalior prison.