E-Paper
Ex-outlaw Malkhan Singh aims to be a lawmaker
A tall man with a distinctive moustache, a mix of walrus and horse-shoe type, came greeting them up with a small group of supporters.
People in a village of Banda in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand woke up to a surprise last week.
A tall man with a distinctive moustache, a mix of walrus and horse-shoe type, came greeting them up with a small group of supporters.
In his 60s now, this man is known for leading a group of dacoits in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind and parts of UP’s Bundelkhand. In fact, stories of his daring deeds still resonate in the region.
But Malkhan Singh doesn’t like to be called a dacoit.
“I was a ‘baghi’ (rebel). I had taken up the gun to fight against injustice,” he told the crowd, while trying to assure them that he now wants to fight against the injustice being meted out to the people of Bundelkhand.
“I will not allow ‘goondagardi’ to happen, your security and safety will be my responsibility,” he tells the crowd. Singh, sources said, wanted to contest on the BJP ticket but talks could not materialise. Now, he is seeking a Congress ticket from Banda.
“I have met UP Congress president Raj Babbar and Maharaj ji (Jyotiraditya Scindia),” he said.
The former dacoit banks on the 2.5 lakh Thakur votes in Banda and feels that he could be instrumental in consolidation of community votes in the entire Bundelkhand.
“The suppressed class wants me to contest the elections; they all know about how I stood against injustice and became Baghi Malkhan Singh,” he said.
Back in 1982, he had surrendered before the then MP chief minister Arjun Singh, an event watched by 30,000 people.
While he had placed his American self-loading rifle and China made 9 mm pistol near the foot of the CM, his men had dropped the light machine guns, sten-guns.
“I nearly had 40 cases at that time; all related to bloody shootouts; not a single case of dacoity was filed against me or my gang,” he said. The objective was to fight for the people facing injustice and tyranny.
“We were kind of Robindhoods. The police tried to malign us by attributing crime of other dacoits to our name. They could not stand trial in high court and the supreme court,” he said.
In 1989 when he was cleared off all charges, Singh settled in Bhind, a dacoit infested area in MP close to the UP border.
His journey to public life began when he was elected ‘Sarpanch’ at the age of 18.
It was during those days he got embroiled in a feud with another influential person, Kailash, over land belonging to Ram Janki temple.
The police allegedly framed him in a case under the arms act, which triggered long drawn battle ending with the killing of Kailash in Biloi village.
Deeply religious, Singh has been associated with the BJP for 26 years but has grown bitter now.
“BJP mazdoori karati hai lekin deti nahin (the party never pays for the hard work),” he said.
Political pundits feel his plunge into electoral area would spice up the election in Banda-Chitrakoot belt and could also upset the equations of political parties.
Bhairon Prasad Mishra from the BJP is the current MP from Banda. Allahabad MP Shyama Charan Gupta, who quit BJP this week, will contest from the seat on Samajwadi Party ticket.
