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The Rediff Interview/Shiela Dikshit

'We are going to stop all this hoarding'

Shiela Dikshit, frontrunner in the race for the capital's chief ministership, and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president, is definitely the woman of the hour. Under her leadership, the Congress has won 51 of the 69 seats in the Delhi assembly elections. She herself stood from Gole Market, and won that election with a whopping majority of nearly 6,000 votes. Belling the BJP lion in its Delhi den, Dikshit is thus expected to sail through her next election -- as leader of the Congress legislature party.

A veteran in the Congress party herself, Dikshit is daughter-in-law of Uma Shankar Dikshit, former cabinet minister and a grand old man of the party. Her husband, an IAS officer, died young, of a heart attack. Dikshit was elected to the eighth Lok Sabha in 1989 from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. In 1994, after differences with the then congress president P V Narasimha Rao, Dikshit, along with Narayan Dutt Tiwari formed the Congress-Tiwari. She rejoined the Congress party three years later, when Rao was removed, and even in this interview, has forgotten entirely about her spell outside the party.

Dikshit is considered extremely close to Sonia Gandhi, and has worked with her in her capacity as secretary of the Indira Gandhi memorial trust also.

The Delhi Congress chief has always been extremely accessible, and remains one even after the astounding results of the assembly election. At her home in Delhi's Nizamuddin East, which has been an open-house to all in the last few weeks, she spoke to Suhasini Haidar. An excerpt:

What do you attribute your party's success in the Delhi elections to?

The main reason we won was the total disillusionment of the people with the BJP government, and the hope that the Congress aroused in the people with its past record of service and development in the country, its record of good administration, commitment to the people and responsiveness to the issues that concern them.

Some years ago, you yourself were quite disillusioned with the Congress and left it to form the Tiwari Congress. How do you feel about your comeback?

No, I never left the Congress. I was always part of the Congress. The only reason why I parted company with then Congress president and prime minister (Narasimha Rao), was that I had serious differences with him about the secular approach of the Congress party under his leadership. But I never left the party. And I never joined any other party.

Now that your party has won the election, how do you feel about your new responsibilities?

The responsibilities are enormous, because the trust has been enormous. But we feel up to it, and we will go into this government with commitment, with conviction and with great hope.

When Sonia Gandhi made you DPCC president, there was much criticism from within your own party. How did you overcome the hostility to your selection?

I don't think the criticism was as serious as it was made out to be. If it had been serious, we wouldn't have succeeded the way we have. I must say emphatically that I got cooperation from everybody in my party. I believe so. There may have been some sort of doubt in people's mind, but I don't think the doubts remained after we brought the party together, galvanised the party, because everyone joined in the campaign after that.

What are your priorities going to be once you have formed the government in Delhi?

The first thing that we are going to give is good administration and that will automatically lead to a better quality of life for the people. There are specifics in the administration which we need to touch. The collapse of the whole system of civic amenities is one -- water, cleanliness, electricity; we have to touch all these issues that are concerning the people of Delhi. They have been deprived of even a minimum standard of living for the past so many years.

What do you plan to do specifically about prices?

We are going to stop all this hoarding, which has lead to the artificial rise in prices. It is particularly artificial in Delhi because in India there has been a 16 pc rate of inflation. In Delhi, that rate of inflation has been 24 pc. The difference itself speaks volumes. Something has been seriously wrong with the previous government's will to control and check prices.

Personally, what is your stand on the Women's Reservation Bill?

I think we should have reservations for women and I feel very strongly about it. Because, of the ten women we gave tickets to in the Delhi elections, eight have won. So we've had an 80 pc success rate with them. How much more can you ask for?

If that is the case, how come you didn't allocate 33 pc of your party's tickets in the Delhi election to women, as the bill calls for?

Believe me, we did want to reach 33 pc in our allocation of tickets to women. But when you are getting into electoral politics, winnability becomes a very big factor. Then, you have to think about giving tickets to other segments of society too. I think we did make a big jump, and as a result, it is the first time the assembly is going to have so many women.

Have you yourself, as a woman politician, had encouragement in your political career?

Yes, certainly my family has always cooperated and encouraged me. There have been moments where they felt that as mother, wife and as daughter-in-law, they deserve more of my time. But I have received enormous support from them. And they are very happy for me.

The Rediff Interviews

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