Death of Sheila Dixit on 20th July, 2019 came like a shock for Congress party as it has lost one of the most powerful leaders. She passed away at Fortis Hospital in New Delhi after suffering from cardiac arrest.
Sheila Dixit was a lady who has played an important role in transforming the face of politics in New Delhi during her three consecutive terms of 15 years. Her tenure as a Chief Minister of Delhi from 1998 to 2013 had made her one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of any Indian state.
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Entry into Indian politics
The second female CM of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dixit was the senior most leader of Indian National Congress. Entry of Sheila Dixit into politics can be said accidental. Her father-in-law was an activist during struggle to freedom. Later, he became the Union Minister when Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister. At that time, Sheila Dixit used to assist his father-in-law in various things. When the former PM Indira Gandhi acknowledge the administrative skills of Sheila Dixit, she nominated Sheila as the Indian delegate of the United Nations Commission on the issue of status of women. This incident remarked entry into Indian politics which eventually led her to become the CM of Delhi.
Different departments held by Sheila Dixit
During the three consecutive terms as the CM of Delhi, Sheila Dixit held more than ten departments under her control. These include:
- General Administration Department
- Higher Education
- Training & Technical Education
- Environment, Forest & Wild Life Department
- Administrative Reforms
- Legislative Affairs and Law & Justice
- Services Department
- Vigilance Department
- Water
- Home Department
- Art & Culture
- Public Relations
She brilliantly managed all these department which eventually contributed to the development of the state.
Achievements as a politician
On taking a look on the political career of Sheila Dixit, you will see that she had made several achievements during her active years. In early 1970s, she was nominated as the chairperson of Young Women’s Association. Between 1984 and 1989, she was member of parliament from Kannauj. In 1990s, she led movement against atrocities on women. In order to ease out the traffic woes, she brought more than 70 new flyovers in Delhi. After holding the position of CM for 15 years, she was nominated as the Governor of Kerala from March to August in 2014.
Despite many achievements which she had registered under her name, there were many controversies in which her name popped up several times. However, she never gave up and came out as a powerful leader of the congress party.