Sheila Dikshit, the stalwart who breathed elegance into Delhi's heritage

Not a born politician, she entered after her husband's demise, helping her father-in-law, learning the ropes in smoke-filled rooms and coming into contact with Indira Gandhi

 

Delhi’s longest serving chief minister, Sheila Dikshit lived a full life and died suddenly: and her greatest contribution was not that she helped to revive a moribund Congress in the national capital or that she initiated many schemes (some that worked, some that didn’t) as chief minister that made the life of those living in the national capital a little better. Her real contribution was to breathe a little taste, a bit of culture and a