Delhi bids final adieu to former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit

New Delhi: The mortal remains of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit were consigned to flames on Sunday, with colleagues, Congress workers and admirers braving heavy rains and gusty winds to bid her final farewell.

The gathering included those she worked alongside, those she fought and those she fought for. As the hearse carrying the casket moved slowly from her house to the party headquarters towards the funeral, cries rang through the air, “Sheila Dikshit amar rahe.”      

The 81-year-old Congress veteran, who died on Saturday due to cardiac arrest, was cremated with full state honours at the Nigambodh Ghat. As desired, she was consigned to flames in the CNG (Compressed  Natural Gas) crematorium. Dikshit herself had initiated green reforms in public transport sector successfully to accomplish the shift from polluting vehicles to a CNG based fleet.

Top Congress leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, were present at the funeral.  Union home minister Amit Shah, Delhi Lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia,  and city home minister Satyendar Jain were among those who attended the last rites. A large number of party workers, mostly women,  had  gathered at the site despite  torrential rains.             

Earlier, paying homage to Dikshit, Sonia Gandhi said the three-time chief minister of Delhi was a friend and like an elder sister to her. Her demise was a big loss to the Congress party, she said.

BJP patriarch L.K. Advani, former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah also paid tributes at Dikshit’s  residence.             

Dikshit’s body was taken to the Congress headquarters where top party leaders paid their respects.

 Later, the body was taken to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee office, the city unit which she was heading at the time of her death.

As the longest serving woman chief minister who steered her party to victory for three consecutive terms in 1998, 2003 and 2008, Dikshit ushered in an era of all-round development that transformed Delhi into a world class capital.

Congress workers jostled to have a glimpse of their leader as the body was brought in a glass casket from her Nizaumuddin residence to 24 Akbar Road  party headquarters.   The truck carrying the  casket moved slowly as the road was packed with supporters who chanted ‘Jab tak suraj chand rahega Sheila ji ka naam rahega’.

It was  not accidental that Congress workers chose to compare the three-time CM’s legacy with the permanence of the Sun and the Moon. A Congress worker who claimed he had worked with her in the 2003 Delhi Assembly elections, said, “She was Delhi. She is Delhi. What you see in the capital, it was all done by her. It was her guidance. To cite a small example, look at the RWAs and the importance they have in basic governance. That was her doing.”

Friends, relatives and supporters remembered Dikshit as an affable person who gave the best advice in hour of need, a concerned chief minister who cared for everyone and a leader above party politics. A 51-year-old Congress supporter, said he got his head tonsured when he heard about Dikshit’s demise.  “This was my way of paying my last respects to her. She was like my mother. She would meet every party worker like a mother meets her children. She gave everything to the city in her 15-year tenure as Delhi chief minister, I just shaved my head,” he said.

Dikshit’s friend Anastasia Gill, former Delhi Minority Commission member, said, she will remember the Congress leader for her strong character and determination. “Sheila treated everyone equally and it was her determination that she could fight back the allegations of corruption during her third term as chief minister,” Gill said.

Congress worker Virender Kumar Chaudhary, who is physically challenged, recollected his visit to Dikshit four days ago.  He reminisced how Dikshit ensured cycles for the physically challenged and her assistance in securing admission for his daughter at a college in 2008.