Defeat marred the beginning as well as the end of her political innings in Delhi — but the electoral success that came Sheila Dikshit’s way in between was as transformational for the Capital in terms of development as her leadership was defining for its politics.
The 81-year-old was the face of three successive Congress regimes which oversaw the construction of around 70 flyovers, including the ongoing Barapullah project, the operationalisation and expansion of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network in addition to a shift of the city’s diesel-propelled public bus fleet en masse to compressed natural gas (CNG) over 15 years between 1998 and 2013.
In fact, Dikshit even managed a shift in the address of political power per se in the city by bringing the Delhi Secretariat to its current location at the players’ building near ITO from the Old Vidhan Sabha in Civil Lines which now functions as the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit along with Transport Minister, Haroon Yusuf enjoying the inaugural ride in the high capicity bus in New Delhi on November 3, 2005. Photo: Sandeep Saxena
“For me, the Delhi Secretariat is her. She made the building in her own image — beautiful, elegant, hospitable, and supremely comfortable. At every turn in the city, there is something good to be found which bears her stamp. Was very fortunate that I got to speak to her just a couple of days ago, she happened to call, requesting to help someone. RIP Sheila Dixit Ma’am [sic],” Varsha Joshi, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre currently posted as Commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, wrote in tribute to veteran Congress leader in a Facebook post.
Ms. Joshi, then posted as the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar, happens to be the bureaucrat who signed off on Dikshit’s election affidavit for her maiden electoral contest from Delhi — as the Congress candidate for the 12th Lok Sabha elections from the East Delhi parliamentary constituency — in 1998, which, however, she lost by a very slim margin.
“I still remember the grace with which she approached me seeking my signature for an affidavit to file her nomination papers. I worked with her on many occasions after she was elected Chief Minister in the Assembly elections later that year. She believed in taking everyone along while moving forward...an amiable personality, I believe a lot of the forward-looking politics of the Capital is her legacy,” Ms. Joshi said.
Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, administering polio drops to a child in New Delhi on May 14, 2005. Photo: R.V. Moorthy
As many as 21 years later, Dikshit would return to the other side of the Yamuna — this time as the Congress’ candidate from the North East Delhi parliamentary constituency which used to be a part of the East Delhi parliamentary c onstituency till 2008 but was carved out post-delimitation — to packed public meetings eager to hear what the party’s local leadership dubbed Vikas ki Devi (goddess of development) had to say.
A force to reckon with
Here she would, after seeking votes for the Congress, ask her audience to recall that the Congress’ three successive governments were the force behind the Delhi Metro and the Signature Bridge — to thunderous applause and nods of approval. Though she lost what was fated to be her last electoral battle, that she continued to be a force to reckon with would be proved by the fact that she garnered around 29% of the total vote share.
Retired IAS officer Ramesh Negi, who worked in various capacities in the Dikshit government for 11 years, remembered her as a leader with personal connect and a “subtle anger” that was followed by smiles and cups of tea.
inspecting the progress of the Delhi Metro at Shastri Park in 2004.Photo: R.V. Moorthy
“The first time I met her was in 2001 when I returned to Delhi from a posting in Daman & Diu. The first thing she said to me was to ask if I had been allotted a house since I had been transferred. That was the personal aspect she focused on,” said Mr. Negi.
At work, Mr. Negi remembered the three-time Chief Minister as having “subtle anger”. “When she was angry with me, she would start by calling me ‘Negi ji’, otherwise it was beta .”
Mr. Negi recalled an instance in 2008 when he was the Delhi Transport Corporation chairperson and the procurement of 2,500 low - floor buses for the Commonwealth Games was being processed.
“We were having trouble with the negotiations as the prices quoted by the companies were high. She called the top officers for a meeting and said “if you can’t finalise this in 10 days, I will tell the Prime Minister that it is because of these three officers. But, after that, she smiled and had a cup of tea.”
When the buses were finally procured and the Opposition BJP raised allegations of corruption, the Chief Minister herself went to the Central Vigilance Commission to explain that all wasabove board, Mr. Negi said.
Attn: News Editor/ Delhi Desk--Delhi Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit seen with her Son, Sandeep Dikshit and her Grand Children Tara, Kartik and Vinayak at her residence in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo:S_Subramanium (11-05-04)
