NEW DELHI: The national capital was jolted out of a quiet Saturday afternoon by the sudden death of former three-term chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who successfully shed the “outsider” tag to dominate Delhi’s politics by overshadowing established BJP and Congress stalwarts and giving the city a modern look.
Though she had a heart condition that required increasing attention, the end took her family and citizens by surprise as doctors at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute worked frantically to revive her after she was brought in with a cardiac arrest. She was declared dead at 3.55 pm and soon political leaders of all hues began offering handsome and unstinted tributes.
She passed away not long after Congress turned to her to lead the party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. She led from the front, contesting despite her frail health from the East Delhi seat. She had strong apprehensions about allying with Aam Aadmi Party and Congress sprang a surprise of sorts by emerging second in Delhi while AAP lost deposits in three of the city’s seven seats.
A formidable leader with a mind of her own, Sheila ventured into politics in 1998, not long after she became a key member of Congress (T), an outfit of Sonia Gandhi loyalists who opposed P V Narasimha Rao. Her three terms as CM ended in defeat in 2013 amid corruption scandals involving Commonwealth Games, but as the public reactions to her demise indicate, the taint didn’t stick. She could be charming and gracious and is remembered for making “world-class city” more than a slogan.
The transformative story plays out in the many flyovers, launch of the Delhi Metro rail network and outreach to the civil society through the Bhagidari movement steered by residents’ welfare associations. The initiatives caught the popular imagination and paid political dividends as she grew in stature.
Sheila’s last political battle was her toughest challenge as she was constantly at odds with party functionaries determined to ally with AAP. She doubted AAP’s desire for an alliance and felt hurt when attempts were made to override her authority. More recently, she was distressed by reports of the party she had served for so long reducing her importance through a series of organisational actions.
She managed to raise hopes of a revival and a better performance in the assembly polls in 2020 and even a better bargain in case negotiations with AAP are renewed. But her death has left Congress without a face and a big void as there is no leader who would be able to generate consensus and become a rallying point in a tired and weather-beaten party.
In an interview to TOI after the election results in May, Sheila was quick to take responsibility for defeat. On the Congress story, she was hopeful. “You get the kudos and brickbats. This is part of politics. The Congress is in the midst of a challenge but we shall overcome this too,” she said.
She was a spirited fighter with sharp administrative skills and political acumen that could out-think most rivals. Even when the already unmet deadlines for the 2010 Commonwealth Games appeared hard to achieve in the midst of an unrelenting monsoon, Sheila was seen personally overseeing cleaning operations at the Commonwealth Games Village.
But this was also the beginning of a downward slide. There were unrelenting attacks on corruption with the build-up of the Anna Hazare movement and birth of the Aam Aadmi Party. Her one-time success in privatising Delhi’s electricity distribution was also attacked for favouring private firms.
Sheila was also at the receiving end of public anger that followed the Nirbhaya gangrape case of December 2012.