New Delhi: Amid chaotic scenes, three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was cremated here on Sunday as VIPs and thousands of commoners watched, a day after the veteran Congress leader suffered cardiac arrest and died.
Security personnel forced most journalists from the print and electronic media to stay away as Dikshit’s mortal remains were consigned to a crematorium powered by compressed natural gas at Nigambodh Ghat near the Yamuna river.
Family members broke down as the mass of men and women, mostly Congress supporters, raised full throated slogans of “Sheila Dikshit Amar Rahe” amid light rains.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, her daughter and party leader Priyanka Gandhi as well as a string of other Congress veterans witnessed the last rites.
So thick was the crowds that security personnel had to push back people trying to surge ahead.
The cremation came after a large number of people, including BJP stalwart L.K. Advani and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, paid homage to Dikshit, 81, at her residence at Nizamuddin before the body was taken to the Congress headquarters in the heart of Delhi.