PEOPLE SAY'S "THEY ARE CONTROVERSIAL"
BUT IT IS ALSO TRUTH THAT AT LEAST THEY CAN
MAKE US TO THINK "UNCONVENTIONALLY".
SO THIS IS A TRIBUTE TO THOSE AWESOME LADIES
WHO CAN SWIM AGAINST THE TIDES.
YES IT'S DIFFERENT ;) :-) , M-e-Z.
Indira Gandhi
Indira 'Priyadarshini' Gandhi was born on 19 November, 1917, in Allahabad to Kamala and Jawaharlal Nehru. Indira's father was a well-educated lawyer and an active member of the Indian Independence Movement. Since the Nehru family was the centre of national political activity, Indira Gandhi was exposed to politics when she was a little child. A leader like Mahatma Gandhi was among the frequent visitors of the Nehru house in Allahabad. She passed her Metric from Pune University and went to Shantiniketan in West Bengal. Here, the students were made to lead a very strict and disciplined life. She later went on to study in Switzerland and Oxford University in London. Indira, then stayed few months in Switzerland with her ailing mother. In 1936, after Kamala Nehru finally succumbed to tuberculosis, she returned to India. At the time of Kamala's death, Jawaharlal Nehru, was languishing in the Indian jails.
In 1959, Indira Gandhi was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress Party. She was one of the political advisors of Jawaharlal Nehru. After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on 27 May 1964, Indira Gandhi decided to contest elections and eventually elected. She was appointed as the in-charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
It was believed that Indira Gandhi was an adept at the art of politics and image-making. This is corroborated by an event happened during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. While the war was going, Indira Gandhi went on a holiday trip to Srinagar. Despite repeated warnings by the security forces that Pakistani insurgents had entered very close to the hotel, she was staying, Gandhi refused to move. The incident fetched her huge national and international media attention.
Following the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri on 11 January 1966, in Tashkent, the race to the coveted throne of Prime Minister began. The party faced a serious trouble, as, all the senior leaders of the Congress party desired to contest. Unable to reach at a consensus, the high-command picked Indira as their contender. The virtual reason behind Indira's selection was the thought that "Indira would, indirectly be run by the top leadership." But Indira Gandhi, showing extraordinary political skills elbowed the Congress stalwarts out of power.
In 1971, in order to stop the Bangladeshi refugees from flowing in into the country, Indira Gandhi supported the East Pakistan's struggle for freedom against West Pakistan. India provided logistical support and also sent troops to fight against West Pakistan. India's triumph in the war of 1971 against Pakistan enhanced the popularity of Indira Gandhi as a shrewd political leader.
In 1975, the Opposition parties and social activists staged regular demonstrations against the Indira Gandhi-led Central government over rising inflation, the poor state of economy and unchecked corruption. The same year, a ruling of Allahabad High Court that Indira Gandhi had used illegal practices during the last election helped in adding fuel to the existing political fire. The verdict ordered her to vacate her seat, immediately. The agitation and anger of the people intensified. Realizing the consequences, on 26 June, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared "an emergency, due to the turbulent political situation in the country".
During the state of emergency, her political foes were imprisoned, constitutional rights of the citizens were abrogated, and the press placed under strict censorship. The Gandhian socialist Jaya Prakash Narayan and his supporters sought to unify students, peasants and labor organizations in a 'Total non-violent Revolution' to transform Indian society. Narayan was later arrested and jailed.
Meanwhile, her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, began to run the country with full-authority. Sanjay Gandhi had ordered the removal of slum dwellings, and in an attempt to curb India's growing population, initiated a highly resented program of forced sterilization.
In 1977, fearing military coup if the emergency continued further, Indira Gandhi called for elections. She was brutally thrashed by the emerging Janata Dal, led by Morarji Desai and Jai Prakash Narayan. Congress managed to win only 153 Lok Sabha seats, as compared to 350 seats it grabbed in the previous Lok Sabha.
With so little in common among the allies of the Janata Party, the members were busy in internal strife. In an effort to expel Indira Gandhi from the Parliament, the Janata government ordered to arrest her. However, the strategy failed disastrously and gained Indira Gandhi, a great sympathy from the people who had considered her as an autocrat just two years back.
In the next elections, Congress returned to power with a landslide majority. Experts viewed the victory of the Congress as a result of inefficient and ineffective "Janata Dal".
In September 1981, a Sikh militant group demanding "Khalistan" entered into the premises of the Golden Temple, Amritsar. Despite the presence of thousands of civilians in the Temple complex, Indira Gandhi ordered the Army to barge into the holy shrine. The operation was carried out with tanks and armored vehicles. The act was viewed as an unparalleled tragedy in the Indian political history. The impact of the onslaught increased the communal tensions in the country. Many Sikhs resigned from the armed and civil administrative office and also returned their government awards. On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi's bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, as a revenge of the Golden Temple assault, assassinated the Prime Minister at her Safdarjung Road residence.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Roberts was born on 13 October 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, the daughter of a grocer. She went to Oxford University and then became a research chemist, retraining to become a barrister in 1954. In 1951, she married a wealthy businessman, Denis Thatcher, with whom she had two children.
Thatcher became a Conservative member of parliament for Finchley in north London in 1959, serving as its MP until 1992. Her first parliamentary post was junior minister for pensions in Harold Macmillan'sgovernment. From 1964 to 1970, when Labour were in power, she served in a number of positions in Edward Heath'sshadow cabinet. Heath became prime minister in 1970 and Thatcher was appointed secretary for education.
After the Conservatives were defeated in 1974, Thatcher challenged Heath for the leadership of the party and, to the surprise of many, won. In the 1979 general election, the Conservatives came to power and Thatcher became prime minister.
She was an advocate of privatisation of state-owned industries and utilities, reform of the trade unions, lowering of taxes and reduced social expenditure across the board. Thatcher's policies succeeded in reducing inflation, but unemployment dramatically increased during her years in power.
Victory in the Falklands War in 1982 and a divided opposition helped Thatcher win a landslide victory in the 1983 general election. In 1984, she narrowly escaped death when the IRA planted a bomb at the Conservative party conference in Brighton.
In foreign affairs, Thatcher cultivated a close political and personal relationship with US president Ronald Reagan, based on a common mistrust of communism, combined with free-market economic ideology. Thatcher was nicknamed the 'Iron Lady' by the Soviets. She warmly welcomed the rise of reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
In the 1987 general election, Thatcher won an unprecedented third term in office. But controversial policies, including the poll tax and her opposition to any closer integration with Europe, produced divisions within the Conservative Party which led to a leadership challenge. In November 1990, she agreed to resign and was succeeded as party leader and prime minister by John Major.
In 1992, Thatcher left the House of Commons. She was appointed a peeress in the House of Lords with the title of Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven and continued giving speeches and lectures across the world. She also founded the Thatcher Foundation, which aimed to advance the cause of political and economic freedom, particularly in the newly liberated countries of central and eastern Europe. In 1995 she became a member of the Order of the Garter, the highest order of knighthood in England.
Hillary Clinton
For a long time she was in the shadow of one of the most beloved United States Presidents, her husband, William Jefferson Clinton. During that time she started to learn many things about the political campaigns she was about to launch after a 22 years break. And her hard work is starting to pay off and she has chances of becoming the first woman President of the United States of America.
When she was holding her husband’s hand on the red carpet, or when she stood by his side during the most uncomfortable interviews, supporting his statements with a discrete smile, Hillary Clinton was unaware of the fact that she will step into politics too.
Her Yale colleagues remember Hillary as a ambitious student, a real political star on the rise, who already caused some waves with a speech targeting a local politician, which she accused of not talking about the problems of her generation. She attracted the attention of many students who’s goals were to change the world and to discourage the Vietnam war, including young Bill Clinton, which she met in the University’s library. Later, a common friend introduced them officially, and Hillary was not indifferent. ” I thought he is a good looking man, funny, provocative and he always made you feel good” Hillary said.
Then the most beautiful years of their lives followed, in which their feelings crated a bond with their common ideals. From this point of view they were a formidable pair, capable of working together in their private life but also professionally. But, at some point, Hillary had to choose between building a Washington career and supporting Bill’s career, in Arkansas. And between love and politics, Hillary picked Bill.This is for the first time when Hillary took a step back to stay by Bill’s side. But, the moment Bill put the wedding ring on her finger, on October 11, 1975, Hillary thought that this was her destiny. They purchased a home in Fayetteville and they both became law professors, and one year later they were already working on Bill’s campaign for Arkansas prosecutor general. This was their first success and then the couple moved to Little Rock where they developed a new plan: getting Bill elected as the Governor of Arkansas. This new victory made them even stronger as a couple. But Bill was too young and too inexperienced, which caused him to lose the next Governor term.
It may seem weird, but Hillary felt that this was a personal failure. Furthermore, she was the main income source of the family and already the mother of a one year old daughter, Chelsea. So she decided to change things in their favor: she changed her look and she decided to lobby for her husband. Her work paid off when Bill was reelected as Governor of Arkansas. The road to Presidency was ensured and not even the Gennifer Flowers sexual scandals couldn’t keep Bill away from the White House.
At 46, on January 20, 1993, Bill Clinton became the 42th President of the United States of America, flanked by the most powerful First Lady in history, Hillary Clinton. Along with her husband, Hillary made democratic projects popular, she was active during official visits and she dealt with all the challenges that arose during the two Presidential terms, but she also dealt with attacks that targeted their private life and which damaged their public credibility. We are talking about a former employee of Bill, Paula Jones, who claimed that in 1991 Bill made sexual advances to her in a hotel room and about intern Monica Lewinsky, the woman who had an affair with Bill Clinton starting with 1997.
While her husband denied everything about Monica Lewinsky, Hillary said ” This is a conspiracy against my husband, which started the day he was elected president.”. Under the pressure of the trial filed by Paula Jones, the president finally admitted his affair with Lewinsky.
After this Hillary was not convinced that their marriage can survive. Only after one year, with the help of couple’s therapy, the Clinton’s were able to say that they managed to put this entire scandal behind them. But all this mess made Hillary declare her independence as a woman.
And Hillary Clinton proved her value. She was first elected Senator, becoming the first wife of a President to run for public office and the first woman to represent New York. Then, in 2007, she ran for the Presidency of the United States. She had chances of becoming President, but ultimately she lost to current US President, Barack Obama.
To reward her, Obama gave Hillary one of the most important jobs in his administration: state secretary.
With a predecessor like Condoleezza Rice, Hillary’s mission is even more difficult as the economical crisis has influence over political decision. But her new target seems to take over the World Bank, which would be another personal recording being the first woman to be the boss of this institution.
Did Hillary Clinton reached her career peak ? Asked if she wants to become President, Vice President or Defense Secretary, Hillary suggested that she is happy with her current position and that, at the end of her term, she might return to her job as a lawyer. But we think that Hillary Clinton enjoys huge popularity in the United States and she might change her mind and run for Presidency in 2012.
Diana- Princess of People
Princess Diana has a great capacity for self-denial in the pursuit of a long-range goal. Diana is capable of hard work and persistent labor, but she may lack joyfulness and the ability to play. Princess Diana often feels burdened by life's demands and responsibilities, and may envy those who seem to attract what they want in life without a great deal of personal effort.
There is a very judgmental, stern, and uncompromising side of Spencer's which may inhibit her a great deal. Princess Diana must avoid becoming heavy and cynical, or becoming a rather callous, sophisticated adult whose practicality and realism squeeze out the playful, imaginative side of life.
Princess Diana has a mature, disciplined, serious attitude toward life which colors everything she does. Caution and realism are her virtues though Diana limits herself at times by being too careful, shy, or fearful, and not believing in herself enough or being assertive when necessary. Others find Princess Diana difficult to get to know intimately, as Spencer tends to distance herself from them or to put forth a rather stern, "adult" face to the world.
Diana dislikes tense or frustrating situations and has a strong desire to free herself from them. Acting quickly at times, Diana suddenly overcomes her inner inhibitions. Princess Diana also has the ability to grasp difficult situations correctly and to use them for her advancement.
Now we will discuss patterns of behavior which Princess Diana instinctively and habitually reverts to when under stress - a mostly subconscious process that she is apt to over indulge in because it is so familiar and hence easy for her. The direction Princess Diana needs to follow in order to develop balance, greater awareness, and wholeness is also described.
Princess Diana's path lies in her development as an individual, the discovery of her own strengths and joys, the capacity to express her uniqueness and to stand out in a crowd. This involves becoming a leader, even though Spencer's instinct is actually to be "one of the Indians" rather than the "chief". When under stress Princess Diana is apt to seek safety in numbers, to go along with the group. Also, she may believe that striving to do her personal best and to excel is wrong or selfish, but Diana should let go of this notion. Finding her own center and doing what gives her delight and energy is the most worthwhile contribution Princess Diana can offer the world at large.
It is in relationships that are more than superficial or casual - in particular in cases where Princess Diana has merged emotionally, legally, or financially with another person - that she is most likely to wrestle with these issues. Spencer will see these issues arise in close partnerships of any kind, especially when there is a mutual dependency involved. Dealing with in-laws, inheritances, and legal matters involving joint custody, shared assets, and resources is also a part of this.
The specific habits which are likely to hold Princess Diana back, or which she is prone to overdo, especially during stressful periods, include:
Being bound to past events and experiences because of her desire to belong, deep attachments to family and the familiar (even if they are neither nourishing nor helpful), the desire to nurture or be nurtured by others, and a strong resistance to cutting the umbilical cord.
The following are specific activities that will support Princess Diana in her growth. These may or may not feel natural to Spencer, and she may initially resist or feel awkward about them, but they are crucial to her path to wholeness.
Princess Diana should become a warrior and cultivate a positive, victorious, active approach to life and to any problems she faces. It is in Spencer's best interest to act on her own behalf instead of stalling, waiting or hoping someone else will do it for her. Princess Diana needs to assert herself openly and courageously and not to be afraid to make mistakes or stumble; there are bound to be a few trial runs to any new initiative. Diana needs to foster a healthy fighting spirit, pick herself up, and go! She also should learn to appreciate conflict and confrontation as a means to grow.
Princess Diana should be willing to become more of a free thinker, to experiment and change, to loosen her ties to tradition and the known and to allow for new developments. She needs to practice getting involved in an area involving new techniques, rapid changes and innovation. Diana can be part of the avant-garde promoting such changes - be it in science, music or social relationships. Princess Diana has to be willing to be different and perhaps to be considered eccentric or odd.
Princess Diana has a strong desire to share her opinions with others and is inclined to seek out people who have the same ideas that she has. She may enjoy studying and developing her intellectual interests with them.
Her nature is a bit restless and unpredictable and because of this, others may see Diana as somewhat unstable. Princess Diana is inclined to involve herself with unusual enterprises and tends to become overly excited in the presence of other people.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, has come to symbolise the struggle of Burma’s people to be free.
She has spent more than 15 years in detention, most of it under house arrest. She was released from her current third period of detention on Saturday 13th November 2010.
However, there are hundreds’ of political prisoners in Burma and none of the repressive laws allowing the dictatorship to detain people without trial and restrict other freedoms have been repealed following the sham election on 7 November or under the new constitution.
Early Life
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on June 19th, 1945, daughter of Burma’s independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two years old.
Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Burma, India, and the United Kingdom. While studying at Oxford University, she met Michael Aris, a Tibet scholar who she married in 1972. They had two sons, Alexander and Kim.
Return to Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in 1988 to nurse her dying mother, and soon became engaged in the country’s nationwide democracy uprising. The military regime responded to the uprising with brute force, killing up to 5,000 demonstrators on 8th August 1988.
Following a military coup on 18th September 1988, on 24th September 1988 a new pro-democracy party, the National League for Democracy, was formed. Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed General Secretary. Aung San Suu Kyi gave numerous speeches calling for freedom and democracy, and political activities continued across the country.
1990 Elections
Facing increasing domestic and international pressure, the dictatorship was forced to call a general election, held in 1990.
As Aung San Suu Kyi began to campaign for the NLD, she and many others were detained by the regime. Aung San Suu Kyi was banned from personally standing in the election. Despite conditions around the elections being far from free and fair with Aung San Suu Kyi and other democracy activists being detained, biased media, and intimidation of politicians, the voting on the day was relatively free and fair. The NLD won a staggering 82% of the seats in Parliament. The dictatorship never recognised the results of the election, and refused to hand over power.
Released For Five Years
Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest until July 1995. When released she faced restrictions on travel.
On March 27 1999, Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband, Michael Aris, died of cancer in London. He had petitioned the Burmese authorities to allow him to visit Aung San Suu Kyi one last time, but they had rejected his request. He had not seen her since a Christmas visit in 1995. The government always urged Aung San Suu Kyi to join her family abroad, but she knew that she would not be allowed to return to Burma.
Detained Again
In 2000 Aung San Suu Kyi was again placed under house arrest after repeated attempts to leave the capital, Rangoon, to hold political meetings in other parts of the country.
Released Again
In 2002, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and with freedom to travel around the country. The release was part of a deal negotiated by UN Envoy on Burma, Razali Ismail. He had facilitated secret meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military. Confidence building steps had been agreed, including that the dictatorship would stop the vehement attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi in the media, and the NLD would stop publicly calling for sanctions, although its policy of still supporting targeted economic sanctions remained. However, when it came to move from confidence building meetings, and instead start dealing with matters of substance, the dictatorship refused to engage in any meaningful dialogue. As a low-level envoy without significant political backing from the UN itself or the international community, Razali was unable to persuade the Generals to move the dialogue forward.
After waiting patiently, Aung San Suu Kyi began to travel the country, holding meetings at which tens of thousands of people turned out to see her, dashing the hopes of the Generals that during her long period of detention the people would have forgotten her, and her support would have waned.
The dictatorship began using members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association to harass and attack NLD meetings. This political militia was set up and organised by the military, with Than Shwe, dictator of Burma, as its President. It later transformed as the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the political party front for the military in the elections held on 7th November 2010.
On May 30th 2003 members of the USDA attacked a convoy of vehicles Aung San Suu Kyi was travelling in. It was an attempt by the dictatorship to assassinate Aung San Suu Kyi, using a civilian front so as not to take the blame. Aung San Suu Kyi’s driver managed to drive her to safety, but more than 70 of Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters were beaten to death. The attack became known at the Depayin Massacre. The dictatorship claimed it was a riot between two political groups, incited by the NLD. The United Nations General Assembly called for the incident to be investigated, but it never was.
Detained Again
Following the attack, Aung San Suu Kyi was held in detention, and then placed back under house arrest.
During this period of detention, conditions were much stricter than in the past. Her phone line was cut, her post stopped and National League for Democracy volunteers providing security at her compound were removed in December 2004.
Diplomats were generally not allowed to meet her, although occasionally UN envoys and US government officials were allowed to meet her. However, even UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was not allowed to meet her when he visited the country in 2009.
In May 2009, just days before her period of house arrest was due to expire, Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested and charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest, which forbids visitors, after John Yettaw, a United States citizen, swam across Inya lake and refused to leave her house. In August 2009 she was convicted, and sentenced to three years imprisonment. In an apparent attempt to placate international outrage about the trial, the sentence was reduced to 18 months under house arrest. By coincidence, this meant her release date turned out to be just 6 days after elections held in Burma, thereby ensuring that once again she was in detention during elections.
International Support
Aung San Suu Kyi has won numerous international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has called on people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma, saying “Please use your liberty to promote ours.”
Phoolan Devi
Phoolan Devi (10 August 1963 – 25 July 2001), popularly known as the "Bandit Queen", was an Indian dacoit (bandit) and later a politician. After being gang-raped by some upper-caste members of her village, Phoolan Devi turned a bandit, and authorised the killing of 22 upper-caste villagers in 1981. Following this, she became notorious across India as a bandit. Most of her crimes were committed seeking justice for women's suffering, particularly those in the unfortunate lowest castes. She was once falsely imprisoned for seeking those involved in her rape to be trialled their crimes. Then made a martyr for exacting this revenge independently from authority and as part of a gang. Later, she surrendered and successfully contested election as a member of the Samajwadi Party. The 1994 film Bandit Queen was loosely based on her life.
As a dacoit
In 1979, a gang of dacoits abducted Phoolan; some also say that she was not kidnapped but "walked away from her life". The gang leader, Babu Gujjar, who was a Gujjar, wanted to rape her. However, she was protected by Vikram Mallah, the second-in-command of the gang who belonged to Phoolan's caste. One night when Baboo attempted to rape Phoolan, Vikram killed him and assumed the gang leadership. Phoolan fell in love with this man who had undoubtedly protected her, and became Vikram's second wife. The gang ransacked the village where Phoolan's husband lived. Phoolan stabbed her estranged husband, and dragged him in front of the villagers. The gang left him lying almost dead by the road, with a note as a warning for older men who marry young girls.
Phoolan Devi learned how to use a rifle from Vikram, and participated in the gang's activities across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The activities consisted of ransacking high-caste villages, kidnapping upper-caste landowners for ransom and train robberies. After every crime, Phoolan Devi would visit a Durga temple and thank the goddess for her protection. The gang hid out in the Chambal ravine.
Behmai incidents
Sometime later, Shri Ram and Lala Ram, two upper-caste dacoit brothers belonging to the Thakur caste, returned to the gang. They were outraged by the killing of the gang leader by a low caste gang member. Shri Ram would make sexual advances towards Phoolan. This led to tensions between Shri Ram and Vikram, who made him apologize to Phoolan. When the gang would ransack a village, Shri Ram would beat and insult the Mallahs. This displeased the Mallahs in the gang, many of whom left the gang. When Shri Ram got a dozen Thakurs to join the gang, Vikram suggested the gang be divided into two, but Shri Ram refused. Shortly afterwards, Shri Ram and other Thakur members in the gang attempted to kill Phoolan and Vikram, who managed to escape. However, later they successfully killed Vikram, abducted Phoolan and locked her up in the Behmai village.
Phoolan Devi was beatend and raped by several men in Behmai. After three weeks, she managed to escape with two other Mallahs from Vikram's gang, helped by a low-caste villager. She gathered a gang of Mallahs, that she led with Man Singh, a member of Vikram's former gang. The gang carried out a series of violent robberies in north and central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. Some say that Phoolan Devi targeted only the upper-caste people and shared the loot with the lower-caste people, but the Indian authorities insist this is a myth.
Seventeen months after her escape from Behmai, Phoolan returned to the village, to take her revenge. On 14 February 1981, Phoolan and her gang marched into the Behmai village, dressed as police officers. The Thakurs in the village were preparing for a wedding. Phoolan's gang demanded that her kidnappers be produced, along with all the valuables in the village. Details of what exactly happened are not available, but Phoolan is said to have recognized two men who earlier had sexually assaulted her and murdered her lover. When Phoolan's gang failed to find all the kidnappers after an exhaustive search, she ordered her gang members to line up all the upper-caste Thakur men in the village and shoot them. The dacoits opened fire and killed twenty-two Thakur men, most of whom were not involved in her kidnapping or rape. Later, Phoolan Devi claimed that she herself didn't kill anybody in Behmai – all the killings were carried out by her gang members.
The Behmai massacre was followed by a massive police manhunt that failed to locate Phoolan Devi. V. P. Singh, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, resigned in the wake of the Behmai killings. Phoolan Devi began to be called the Bandit Queen. Dolls of Phoolan Devi dressed as Hindu goddess Durga were sold in market towns in Uttar Pradesh. She was glorified by much of the Indian media.Surrender and jail term
Two years after the Behmai massacre the police had still not captured Phoolan Devi. The Indira Gandhi Government decided to negotiate a surrender. By this time, Phoolan Devi was in poor health and most of her gang members were dead. In February 1983, she agreed to surrender to the authorities. However, she said that she didn't trust the Uttar Pradesh police and insisted that she would only surrender to the Madhya Pradesh Police. She also insisted that she would lay down her arms only before Mahatma Gandhi's picture and the Hindu goddess Durga, not to the police. She also required the following conditions:
She would not get the death penalty
Her gang members should not get more than eight years in jail
Her father should receive a plot of land
Her entire family should be escorted by the police to her surrender ceremony
An unarmed police chief met her at a hiding place in the Chambal ravines. They walked their way to Bhind, where she laid her rifle before the portraits of Gandhi and Goddess Durga. The onlookers included a crowd of around 10,000 people and 300 police and the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh. 300 police personnel were waiting to arrest her and other members of her gang who surrendered at the same time.
Phoolan Devi was charged with 48 crimes, including 30 charges of dacoity (banditry) and kidnapping. Her trial was delayed for 11 years, which she served in the prison. During this period, she was operated on for ovarian cysts and ended up with an involuntary hysterectomy. She was finally released on parole in 1994 after persuasion by Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, the leader of the Nishadha fishermen community. The Government of Uttar Pradesh, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, withdrew all the cases against her.
Political career
In the 1990s, Phoolan Devi served as the president of Eklavya Sena, an organization formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ganga Charan Rajput to "protect the weaker sections". Under Phoolan's leadership, the group aimed at teaching lower-caste people the art of self-defense. During this period, Phoolan married Umaid Singh, her sister's husband and a New Delhi business contractor.
In 1996, Phoolan Devi contested for the 11th Lok Sabha from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh as a Samajwadi Party candidate and was elected. She was re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999. During her election campaign, she was criticized by the women widowed in the Behmai massacre. Kshatriya Swabhimaan Andolan Samanvay Committee (KSASC), a Kshatriya organization, held a statewide campaign to protest against her. In a 1999 interview, she stated that her political objectives included providing drinking water, electricity, schools and hospitals to the poor. She also emphasized on equal status for women, stressing on their education and employment.
During her career as a Member of the Indian Parliament, Phoolan got a train stopped at unscheduled stops to meet her acquaintances in Uttar Pradesh. The railway minister, Ram Vilas Paswan played down the train incident and ordered only a nominal enquiry. Once, she visited the Gwalior jail (where she was imprisoned) to meet her former inmates. When the jail officers didn't let her in due to the visiting hours rules, she abused them. Later, a suspension order was issued against the jail officials involved in the incident, without any explanation.
In 1998, Phoolan Devi claimed she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by some members of the British Parliament. She lost a bid for reelection in 1998, but was returned to office the following year.
Assassination
On 25 July 2001, Phoolan Devi was fatally shot as she got out of her car at the gate of her New Delhi residence. The assailants also wounded her bodyguard and escaped in an auto rickshaw.
Sher Singh Rana, Dheeraj Rana, and Rajbir were accused of the crime. Sher Singh Rana allegedly surrendered in Dehradun. He confessed to the murder, saying he was avenging the deaths of 22 Kshatriyas at Behmai. He escaped from Tihar Jail in 2004 for Digging Hindu Samrat Prithviraj Chauhans Grave and getting back his “asthiyas” (relics) to his nation “India”, which were in Afghanistan and was highly disrespected by Afghans, but was captured in April 2006 from Kolkata and sent to Rohini Jail, Delhi. The same year, the KSASC decided to honor Rana for "upholding the dignity of the Kshatriya community" and "drying the tears of the widows of Behmai".
On 19 January 2007, Balender Singh, Phoolan's bodyguard who had been witness to the shooting, identified Dheeraj and Sher Singh as the people who had fired on him and Phoolan respectively. Balender Singh was cross-examined on 2 February 2007.
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