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Journalism of Courage
For Sheila Dikshit, it seems, history does repeat itself. In 1998, Dikshit was pulled out of Uttar Pradesh politics and thrust into Delhi. She assumed charge of the faction-ridden state unit, was projected as the chief minister and ousted the BJP in Delhi. And it stayed that way for 15 years.
Almost 20 years since she emerged on the national scene, Dikshit, 78, has come full circle. After her shocking defeat to Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party in the 2013 Assembly election — months before the Congress’ washout in the 2014 parliamentary elections — she is the face of the Uttar Pradesh campaign for a party torn apart from within, a fight that many would say is a losing battle.
WATCH VIDEO: Congress Names Sheila Dikshit As UP CM Candidate
By naming Dikshit as chief ministerial candidate, the Congress has ticked more than a few boxes — her Uttar Pradesh lineage, a Brahmin face, a proven administrator with three tenures as Delhi CM, including one term with the NDA in power at the Centre, and even a short stint as Governor of Kerala.
Read Also: It’s a big responsibility, we will win in UP: Sheila Dikshit
Dikshit’s first tryst with politics was in 1984, when she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj in UP. Her husband, IAS officer Vinod Dikshit, was the son of freedom fighter and Congress leader Uma Shankar Dikshit. During an election campaign in 2012, senior Congress leaders recalled Dikshit’s speeches, where she referred to UP as her sasural.
Read Also: Congress wants to project Sheila’s Delhi success in UP
Born on March 31, 1938, in Punjab’s Kapurthala, Dikshit studied at Convent of Jesus and Mary School in Delhi and graduated with a Master’s degree in history from Delhi University’s Miranda House.
Over three terms as CM in Delhi, Dikshit cemented her status as an able administrator, projecting her work through the Delhi Metro, flyovers that eased congestion and getting Delhi’s public transport to run on CNG. In 1998, the Congress, contesting against the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and an NDA government at the Centre, won 52 of Delhi’s 70 seats. Dikshit followed this up with 47 seats in 2003 and 43 seats in the 2008 elections.
Read Also: Sheila Dikshit Congress’ CM candidate for Uttar Pradesh: Here’s how Twitter reacted
Battling three-time anti-incumbency and waning support for the UPA coalition, Dikshit’s last election campaign — Delhi Assembly election in December 2013 — ended in disaster. From 47 MLAs, the tally crashed to eight and Dikshit herself was handed a humiliating defeat at the hands of Kejriwal, a man about whom she had derisively said: “Who is he?” That election, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 31 seats and AAP completed a stunning debut, winning 28 seats and going on to form the government.
The poor electoral performance, coupled with allegations of corruption during the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the backlash from the 2012 December 16 gangrape, backfired on the Congress and, in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the party lost all seven seats to the BJP.
With the 2014 defeat for the Congress, Dikshit faded from the party unit in Delhi and was appointed as Governor of Kerala. But this, too, ended in five months after the Narendra Modi-led NDA government asked her to resign in August 2015.
Since then, Dikshit has reiterated that she is not active in politics and is “concentrating” on her book, a project that she never had time to work on.
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