OFFICIAL OBITUARY REFERENCE
PREAMBLE
The sad event of the passing away of Smt. Sheila Dikshit, former Chief Minister of the state of Delhi, the capital of India, occurred at 3:55 pm on the 20th of July 2019. She was 81 years old. Her death was attributed to cardiac arrhythmia and took place in the Fortis Escorts Heart and Institute in India’s capital New Delhi.
The late Smt. Sheila Dikshit was born on the 31st of March in 1938, the daughter of Shri Sanjay Kapoor, her father, and Smt. Swarnalata, her mother, in the city called Kapurthala in the Indian state of Punjab.
The late Smt. Sheila Dikshit attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary School, a Christian school in her home city. She later enrolled in Miranda House, Delhi University, Delhi, for her Bachelor of Arts education and went on to complete her Master of Arts degree from the same college and university.
She joined politics for the first time in the year 1969 in order to render assistance to her father-in-law. After that, in about 1970, she became the chairperson of the Young Women’s Association.
Later in 1984 Sheila Dikshit was handpicked by Rajiv Gandhi to be part of his council of ministers after he became the Prime Minister that year. Including as a member of the Indian parliament, she took up a large number of public service roles over the years. This year she was elected to the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, from the Kannauj constituency in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
In August 1990, she was jailed with her 82 colleagues for 23 days by the state government of Uttar Pradesh when she led a movement for women’s rights and against atrocities being committed against women. Smt. Sheila Dikshi also represented India at United Nations Commission on Status of Women for five years, from 1984 to 1989, and was its spokesperson.
Besides, from 1998 to 2013, for three successive five-year terms for a total of 15 years, the late Smt. Sheila Dikshit served as the Chief Minister of Delhi. She became not only the longest serving Chief Minister of Delhi but also the longest serving woman chief minister in India. On the 11th of March in 2014, she was made the Governor of the state of Kerala. She resigned from that post on the 25th of August in 2014.
Some of the awards and recognitions won by late Smt. Sheila Dikshit over the years have included:
- The Journalist Association of India presented the Best Chief Minister of India award to her in 2008.
- The NDTV media house presented its Politician of the Year award to her in 2009.
- The Indo-Iran Society presented to her its Dara Shikoh award in 2010.
- The ALL Ladies League for Outstanding Public Service presented to her its Delhi Women of the Decade Achievers Award for 2013.
On the 10th of January in 2019, Smt. Sheila Dikshit was elected as the president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee. It was during her chief ministerial tenure that public transport vehicles powered by CNG were introduced. She is highly praised and liked by the general readers for the book Citizen Delhi: My Times, My Life authored by her. She made sacrifices for the Indian society and nation during her long public life. Both for the sake of the Tibetan people and the Tibetan national cause, late Smt. Sheila Dikshit looked after the wellbeing of the Tibetan people living in exile in India. In particular, she took special interest to look after the wellbeing of the Tibetan people living in Indian capital Delhi. During her life time, Smt. Sheila Dikshit always had the Tibetan people in her mind and was constantly ready to extend strong support for the Tibetan cause. Apart from lending strong support for efforts directed at the realization of the just cause of Tibet, she was a person who initiated campaign actions for Tibet. The late Smt. Sheila Dikshit was a dependable friend of Tibet and the Tibetan people and, in particular, a person with keen concerns for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and who had the highest of devotion and respect for the Tibetan leader.
RESOLUTION
The Tibetan Parliament in Exile greatly respects and admires the late Smt. Sheila Dikshit for her outstanding accomplishments while offering its exaltations to her. Her passing away has been a great loss to the Tibetan struggle too. On behalf of all the Tibetan people in Tibet and in exile, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile hereby offers its heartfelt condolences to her surviving family members and others who were close to her. The Tibetan Parliament in Exile ardently prays that her visionary noble wishes may all be seen fulfilled, that whatever she had done that amounted to accumulation of sins may all be cleansed so that she stands purified and may ascend through stages of blissfulness after blissfulness. The Tibetan Parliament in Exile hereby adopts this resolution with unanimous approval on this the 20th day of September in 2019.
The above resolution was adopted with unanimous approval at the 8th session of the 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile on this the 20th day of September in 2019.
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* In case of any discrepancy between this English translation and its Tibetan original, the latter should be considered authoritative and final for all purposes.
