22 years after Phoolan Devi's murder, UP minister and leader of the Nishad party Sanjay Nishad sent letters to the federal and state governments requesting a CBI investigation into the killing of the former bandit-turned-Samajwadi Party MP.
Sanjay Nishad, leader of the Nishad party and a minister in the UP.
Nishad added the addresses of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to the letter in addition to the address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The demand was made on Tuesday, the anniversary of Phoolan's passing, just months before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It was instantly perceived as an effort to inspire the tribe of boatmen and fishermen, to which Phoolan belonged.
Phoolan joined the SP and rose to the position of MP under its banner.
The leader of the Nishad party, who, following a brief agreement with the SP in the 2018 Lok Sabha byelections, has been a member of the BJP-led-NDA since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, also united a parallel demand to release Phoolan's property from "SP-backed mafia elements."
We demand that the mafia leaders who are supported by the SP be released from her properties, Nishad remarked. The leader also asked that Phoolan-named self-defense facilities be established all around the state.
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