Lucknow, Jul 25 (PTI) Tributes were paid to former Samajwadi Party MP Phoolan Devi on her death anniversary at the party's state headquarters here on Monday.

Many leaders, including Samajwadi Party's (SP) national secretary and chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary and state president Naresh Uttam Patel, paid floral tributes to the bandit-turned-politician, a statement by the party said.

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"SP president Akhilesh Yadav believes that the story of Phoolan Devi is the history of the struggle of the backward, deprived and dalits. She was the symbol of Kashyap, Mallah, Bind and Nishad society's identity and social justice.

"The Samajwadi Party had taken a big step in the direction of making Phoolan a member of parliament (MP) and getting the Kashyap-Nishad society its due respect," Chaudhary said on the occasion.

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'Bandit Queen' Phoolan Devi, who later turned to politics, along with her gang members were accused of killing 20 people belonging to the Thakur community at Behmai village in Kanpur Dehat on February 14, 1981.

She was elected from the Mirzapur Lok Sabha constituency in 1996 and 1999 from the Samajwadi Party. She was shot dead outside her MP bungalow in New Delhi on July 25, 2001.

The Samajwadi Party organised meetings at party offices in different districts of Uttar Pradesh to mark the occasion.

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