Phoolan Devi: Phoolan Devi, Gabbar, Paan Singh: How Legacy Of Dacoits Lives On Via Namesakes In Political Ravines Of Mp | Bhopal Information

BHOPAL: Dacoits are lengthy gone, and their weapons have been silenced, however their names nonetheless echo within the areas they as soon as influenced. Within the ravines of Chambal and within the Vindhya area — which had been as soon as often known as Madhya Pradesh’s badlands the place energy flew from the barrel of the gun — it is rather straightforward to seek out names akin to well-known dacoits like Gabbar, Paan Singh, Phoolan Devi, and Malkhan Singh.
There are millions of voters who nonetheless carry the title like Phoolan Devi, Malkhan Singh, Paan Singh Tomar within the Chambal area. Equally, within the Vindhya area, there are at the least 300 voters named Dadua. Shivkumar Patel, often known as Dadua, was as soon as the dreaded dacoit of the Vindhya space.

Apparently, these namesakes of the dacoits are discovered within the areas the place these outlaws as soon as held sway. As an illustration, there are hardly any voters named Gabbar Singh within the Vindhya area. Equally, there are few voters named Dadua within the Chambal districts. The identical sample holds for different notorious dacoits names.
These dacoits had been identified to affect elections up to now and used to name the photographs throughout polls, though their influence has waned over time. Up to now, members of the family of the dreaded dacoit Dadua even managed to win parliamentary and legislative meeting elections in neighboring UP. Former dacoit Malkhan Singh has lately joined the Congress and is actively campaigning for the occasion. He had additionally campaigned for BJP within the 2014 elections.
Nevertheless, based on former DGP of MP who had served for a substantial time within the Chambal areas, the prevalence of dacoit-related names within the areas of their affect has nothing to do with a fan following of those criminals.
“There may be prevalence of some sorts of names in some geographies and it’s from years. Names like Paan Singh, Phoolan are such kind of names that are common within the Chambal area. Like I had seen individuals with names like ‘Latkhor’ throughout my posting in Chhattisgarh, it was prevalent there, however right here it’s derogatory. So I strongly really feel that prevalence of such names has nothing to do with fan following of dacoits,” the previous DGP Madhya Pradesh, Surendra Sinh instructed TOI.