One of India's strongest women for decades yet quiet and self-effacing, Ms. Dikshit, three times CM of Delhi (who should have returned to the seat once more), has just passed away. She was exactly my father's age. Here is the obituary that India Today has posted.
She showed that you can be traditional yet very modern and progressive. She showed that you can be a firm go-getter with a suave touch. I don't think she ever had much truck with firebrand feminists, yet she proved that a woman of mettle can make her way in a man's world: it's only the good for nothings with huge senses of unearned entitlement who whine and rant. She showed that even in India, a land of ingrates and inveterate fault-finders with very short memories, some few people can leave marks that everyone salutes, friend and foe alike. She deserved the PM's chair far more than lots of others who have sat on it or aspired to it.
I admired and respected her. India needs far more like her, in every field, but politics most of all. I cannot pay a greater tribute than saying publicly that among contemporary Indians, I have put her on my list of ideals for my daughter for a very long time...
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