The Bandit Queen's mom has no money for food

SHEIKHPUR GUDHA (JALAUN): Mula Devi hasn't met anyone wearing "suit-boot" in years. Her eyes well up as the 70-year-old says she hasn't eaten properly in days. She quietly shuffles inside her hut, which is bandaged into standing up with bits of cloth and plastic, puts the money she's been given in a tin box and sends a prayer heavenwards.

It is hard to believe this is ' Bandit Queen' Phoolan Devi's mother. When Phoolan ruled Chambal in the early 1980s, Mula Devi would be greeted any time she ventured out. There'd be visitors, food and clothes. Now, she is left only with rags and memories.

Last year an NGO surveying the impact of a drought found Mula Devi and her daughter, Phoolan's sister, Ramkali, on the verge of starvation. Kuldeep Baudh, convenor of Bundelkhand Dalit Adhikar Manch, told TOI, "When we visited them, they were in possession of 250gm of onion and a little flour. They were about to collapse. It is unbelievable that someone from this family was an MP 17 years ago." Mula Devi's bigha of land on the outskirts of their Sheikhpur Gudha village is gone. Ramkali, who bears a stark resemblance to the dreaded dacoit of yore, brings home Rs 300400 a month doing MNREGA work -if she is lucky. There isn't much beyond that.

"It's only during elections that politicians meet us," Ramkali said. "They exhibit me on stage. I get Rs 200 for it. But last couple of years, I've refused most because I started getting veiled threats."

It was in this village that Phoolan, after becoming a victim of caste-based oppression, chose the gun and shot dead 22 upper-caste Thakurs involved in her gang rape in nearby Behmai in 1981. Phoolan surrendered in 1983, was charged with 48 criminal cases, all of which were withdrawn by Mulayam Singh's government later. She was released from jail in 1994, got elected two years later as an SP MP from Mirzapur and in 1999 again but was gunned down in Delhi on July 25 2001, allegedly by the kin of those she had massacred in 1981. But those days are a faint blur today for Mula Devi and Ramkali.

"After Phoolan's murder, our land was snatched away. Phoolan had farm land, property in Ghaziabad and a petrol pump too. Mulayam Singh promised Ramkali a ticket but all was forgotten," says Phoolan's mother. Their village is in Kalpi constituency of Bundelkhand's Jalaun district. Sitting Congress MLA Uma Kanti faces BSP's Chote Singh who claims he helps Phoolan's family off and on. Mula Devi meantime says she will vote for whoever promises her food when her little tin box runs empty.