Overview

The girl who loved cycling along the tree-lined avenues of a brand new Lutyens’ Delhi could never have dreamt that five decades later she would govern, and transform, Delhi as its chief minister – not once, but thrice consecutively. When a politician like Sheila Dikshit, with a career spanning over three decades, chooses to let the reader get a glimpse of her life’s journey, the opportunity brings along an element of surprise. In a fascinating account of her life, contoured along the life of the nation and her political party at critical junctures, she creates a richly patterned universe with deft touches, seamlessly moving between the home and the world, the past and the present. Be it encounters with politics, which she terms ‘life at its barest’ or the ups and downs of a household, what shines through is the portrait of a modern woman determined to face any eventuality with fortitude, and a deep sense of duty. Interestingly, she never wanted to be in politics, but destiny willed otherwise – a destiny shaped by her liberal upbringing in a Punjabi household. Brought up to be independent, she chose her life partner from another part of India. And that started it all. As the wife of an IAS officer and daughter-in-law of well-known freedom fighter and politician, Uma Shankar Dikshit, with his long association with the Nehru–Gandhi family, she saw governance from both ends. When she began assisting her father-in-law from 1969, her up-close view of politics eventually became a springboard for her own entry into the arena in December 1984, inaugurating a 30-year-long career in politics. The narrative foregrounds a question that the author considers crucial for democracy – how does one deal with the constant tussle between the dictates of governance and the here-and-now preoccupations of party politics?

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Born in 1938 in Kapurthala, Punjab, Sheila Dikshit is a post-graduate in History from the University of Delhi. She made her debut in electoral politics in 1984 as a member of the Indian National Congress, contesting and winning from the Kannauj parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. She served as a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government. Later Ms Dikshit was to lead the Congress party to three consecutive electoral victories in the state of Delhi, becoming its longest serving Chief Minister – from 1998 to 2013. In 2006, she was awarded a D.Litt. by the University of Delhi. Credited with transforming the face of Delhi, her focus was on delivering a citizen-centric and open administration, rising above parochial and sectarian issues. She gained international recognition for her Bhagidari initiative, which created an effective interface between the government and citizens. In 2014, she briefly served as the Governor of Kerala, before returning to active politics as part of the Congress’s election campaign for Uttar Pradesh in 2016. She remains as engaged as ever in politics, believing that the journey never ends.

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