Fight begins to take on Phoolan's mantle

In less than a week since the opposition Samajwadi Party lawmaker Phoolan Devi was assassinated outside her official bungalow in the high security zone of the capital, a fight to inherit her political legacy has started amidst its inmates.

At one hand are the slain leader's apolitical younger sibling Munni Devi and their aged mother Mula Devi, and at the other hand is Phoolan's estranged husband Umed Singh, a failed politician in his own right.

While Umed Singh has already announced his intentions to work towards fulfilling Phoolan's "unfinished work", dropping broad indications that he is mentally preparing himself to contest the Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat fallen vacant by to his wife's cold-blooded murder, the Samajwadi Party leadership is working towards making Munni Devi their candidate so as to ensure the advantage emerging from Phoolan's death can be encashed politically.

Expectedly, despite living under the same roof at Phoolan's 44, Ashoka Road residence, the two families – Phoolan's own and her in-laws – are not on talking terms ever since her murder.

The Samajwadi Party leadership, according to insiders, has come to a conclusion that their best bet to win the now vacant Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat in eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as the upcoming State Assembly polls is to throw a greenhorn Munni Devi into the political arena.

"Besides resembling and sounding like Phoolan, she is the best stake for us to ensure that the sympathy generated by Phoolan's murder is carried to the ballot box. The fact that Phoolan's marriage with Umed being on the brink of collapse is a public knowledge, we cannot expect Umed to do the job for us," the Samajwadi Party insider said.

The party feels that belonging to one of the most backward castes (MBCs), Phoolan's popularity among the MBCs and minority Muslims extended beyond her Mirzapur constituency, which elected her twice to the Lok Sabha.

Moreover, the party is also hardpressed to prop up someone like Phoolan who can work as a counter to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and former UP chief minister Mayawati, who herself belongs to the MBC category. The Samajwadi Party would be locked in a triangular contest with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the BSP during the upcoming Assembly polls.

Since the BJP government is accused to trying to split the backward caste voters by announcing reservation in jobs for the MBCs from the existing quota for the other backward castes (OBCs) weeks before Phoolan's death, the Samajwadi Party must find a quick replacement for her to attract the MBC voters.

Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav, who belongs to the normally prosperous Yadav community, which is alleged to have garnered the maximum benefit from the reservation for backwards castes, cannot be expected do the job without annoying his fellow Yadav voters.

The Samajwadi Party's eagerness to make a political capital out of Phoolan's murder was reflected when senior party leaders prevailed upon the grieving family to have Phoolan's funeral in Mirzapur instead of Delhi or her birth place Jalaun in UP.

Umed Singh for the time being has only announced that he would carry on Phoolan's unfinished work through her non-political organisation Eklavya Sena. However, people around him do not rule out the possibility of he himself jumping into the fray, as his political ambitions are no secret.