My name is Phoolan Devi, people know me as the ‘Bandit Queen.’ And I didn’t know that after so much struggle, I would survive. And that today I would also reach among all of you, that I would receive so much respect and honour, I had never thought of this. For four years I wandered in the jungle.
You must know that in our India—I shouldn’t say this on such an occasion, but I will say it, I will tell you what happened to me. Our feudal people, wealthy people, and especially—if I name the caste, people will say, ‘She went to Dubai and talked about caste.’
People of such high castes who believe in the caste system, they think of poor people like me, Dalits, the oppressed, the minorities as insects and worms, that we are not human beings. So I showed those people that I am a human being, if you kill us, we will not sit quietly, we will also fight back.
I thought many times about committing suicide, about dying. But then I thought that thousands of girls die every day.
Tell me, people know me as a dacoit, ‘Dacoit Phoolan Devi.’ Tell me, do I have four arms and legs? They say, ‘She is from Chambal Valley, she is from Chambal Valley’—is the Chambal Valley my mother and father? I was born to parents. My only crime is that I was born in a hut, born into a poor family, born in an oppressed society. So, don’t I have the right to live?
My brothers and sisters, I have not done anything wrong, I speak at platforms there [in India] too. With Abu Bhai, there have been many gatherings, very big gatherings. I have not done anything wrong.
Also read: Bandit Queen, MP, feminist: Phoolan Devi could never be put in a box
You must have heard—you all must have heard as you are residents from there, some of our brothers are from here—because of Sita, they still burn the effigy of Ravana. His only crime was that he took away just one woman, and they still burn his effigy. What wrong did I do? Such Ravanas also committed atrocities against me, and I answered those Ravanas.
‘Phoolan Devi is a dacoit, a dacoit.’ It’s only because of honourable Mulayam Singh Ji — I shouldn’t take names — that today I stand within society. Otherwise, such a big conspiracy was hatched.
I did not do anything wrong—those who tormented me, who did not allow me to live worthily in society, in anger a person does not do good things, in anger they only do wrong. And whatever happened, good and bad, it happened to teach a lesson, that if you commit injustice and atrocities against sisters and daughters like me, then any woman will come out of her home and stand her ground to fight for her rights.
So my brothers and sisters, they declared me a dacoit. When I contest elections, everyone gives the same speech. No one has any other speech left. Tell me, do I look like a dacoit? What is a dacoit? You tormented me, looted and beat me. The dacoits are those dishonest people who loot and assault women like me.
So my brothers and sisters, for four years I wandered in the jungle, for 11 years I remained in jail—and in jail too, I was kept with insane women, I was not kept in a good place. ‘This woman is mad’—I was kept among the insane. After keeping me in jail for 11 years, they did not present me in court, and when I was released from jail, a massive storm erupted in India—’Such a big dacoit has been released,’ ‘A great injustice has happened.’
But it was just all your love, your blessings, and also the grace of the one above.
This is part of ThePrint’s Great Speeches series. It features speeches and debates that shaped modern India.