New Delhi: Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit today lamented that the national capital was “not developed” the way it should have been, as she asked people to vote the Congress back to power if they wanted to see growth in the city. She said this in response to a question on the current development scenario in Delhi, at a book launch event here. “We use to get excited about doing development work,” Dikshit said.
“But, it’s very sad that Delhi has not developed the way it should have been. Its development is not happening,” she alleged, adding, “But, elections will come again, vote back the Congress to power”.
Dikshit was interacting with a gathering at the launch of her coffee-table book, ‘Dilli Meri Dilli: Before and After 1998’ here, which uses archival photographs and new images to tell the story of the city’s monuments and its evolution as a metropolis.
“We, who live in Delhi, can’t see all the monuments. This is what this book will put together, a modern Delhi that came after the partition (of the country) and the Delhi that came after the Mughal period,” the former Delhi chief minister said. A senior Congress leader, she served as the chief minister for a period of 15 years, from 1998 to 2013. She said she has been working on the book for the last two years.
Asked about the difficulties in putting together the book, Dikshit said, “We had to take a lot of permissions (from authorities), and many had not given permissions. Delhi is full of historical monuments, it was not easy to take the photographs…
That is why it took us time.” The 200-page book is divided into several chapters on heritage, culture, law, religion, environment, education, sports and transport.
Responding to another question, she said, “Delhi is a kind of place that is ever growing. At one point of time, it seemed it is of Delhites, then partition happened, and it became of Punjabis as well. And, today Delhi has also become of people from Bihar and UP.” Dikshit said her “beloved monument was Qutub Minar”.
PTI