Madhya Pradesh polls near with no known former dacoit contesting election

As electioneering is gathering pace in Madhya Pradesh for November 28 Assembly polls, one thing is missing: former dacoits in the fray. Unlike in the past decades, no known former dacoit is contesting the election in the Gwalior-Chambal and Vindhya regions, once known as Madhya Pradesh's badlands.

Prem Singh, a former dacoit who had won on Congress ticket from Chitrakoot in Satna district in 2013, is no more. With him, the age of outlaws influencing elections or even contesting and winning them has almost ended, said Satna-based journalist Rajesh Dwivedi. Two gangs, headed by Babli Kol and Lavlesh Kol, are still said to be active in Vindhya ravines, but they do not have any political influence, he said. In the past, former dacoits Shiv Kumar Patel aka Dadua and Ambika Patel alias Thokia used to call the shots during elections in Chitrakoot and the surrounding areas in the Vindhya region close to Uttar Pradesh border, Dwivedi said.

Both commanded some following in rural areas, especially among Patels, a powerful OBC community, he said. Patel's younger brother Bal Kumar Patel was an MP of the Samajwadi Party from Mirzapur in UP between 2009 and 2014, Dwivedi said. Bal Patel told PTI that Dadua's son Veer Singh was SP MLA from Karbi in UP from 2012 to 2017. "My son Ram Singh was also SP MLA from Pratapgarh in UP between 2012 and 2017," he added. Dadua and Thokia were killed in police encounters in 2006 and 2007, respectively, in Uttar Pradesh after then chief minister Mayawati cracked the whip against the dacoit gangs, Dwivedi said. They were involved in over 300 cases including those of murder and kidnapping in MP and UP, as per the police.

Former dacoits Malkhan Singh and Mohar Singh, whose writ once ran large in the ravines of Chambal, campaigned for the BJP in 2013 Assembly elections and in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, said Gwalior-based journalist Dr Keshav Pandey. Malkhan Singh, known for his handlebar moustache, was known as a dreaded dacoit for two decades before he surrendered in 1982. He was wooed by several political parties and even contested an Assembly by-election in 1996 on SP ticket from Bhind but lost, Pandey said. In the last two Assembly elections he supported BJP candidates, Pandey added. Mohar Singh joined the BJP in his 90s and went on to become head of Mehgaon Municipality in Bhind district in 1995. He used to carry a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head before he surrendered in 1972, Pandey said, adding that now he is not involved in politics. Former dacoit Balwant Singh (65) told PTI that he was unhappy with the amendment to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The amendment, which restored the provision of immediate arrest after the Supreme Court had `diluted' it, had provoked protests from upper caste outfits in Madhya Pradesh. Singh said he was not going to campaign for any party. Singh is the nephew of Paan Singh Tomar, international athlete-turned-dacoit and subject of a recent Bollywood film. He surrendered in 1982, a year after Tomar was killed in a police encounter. According to Pandey, the dacoits who operate in the region today do not enjoy the "Robinhood" image of their predecessors which fetched them respect and even popularity. Dacoit gangs have been finished in the region, said Gwalior Superintendent of Police Navneet Bhasin. "We rid Gwalior and Chambal region of dacoits by forming special teams," he said.

(With inputs from agencies.)