NEW DELHI: Phoolan Devi, who once ruled the Indian badlands with her band of desperadoes, last week looked a little too sedate in her new incarnation as a lawmaker in Parliament. On her first day at Parliament at the oath taking ceremony, the former luau braved the proceedings lord 20 minutes, yawning occasionally and’ then, flinging one arm behind her scat rest, dropped off to sleep. Jollied out of her siesta by the desk thumping more than an hour later, she managed to stay awake for the rest of the proceedings.
Later, amid thumping of desks, Phoolan rose to take the oath and had to be prompted through it to read the Hindi script handed to her. Thereafter a beaming Phoolan returned 1o her seat, greeting the Congress Party members on her way back.
As Phoolan made her maiden entry into Parliament, she was mobbed by scores of television and newspaper cameramen, Dressed in a colorful sari, she looked very different from the woman who had been accused of leading a massacre of 22 upper caste men in a village in Uttar Pradesh in 1981 in retribution for the alleged humiliation they inflicted on her.
Phoolan was elected as a Samajwadi (Socialist) Party candidate from Mirzapur in Umar Pradesh. A controversial film based on her life has turned her into a national and international celebrity.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 5, 1996
