She was born Svetlana Alliluyeva, and her father was Joseph Stalin, the `comrade' ruler of Russia. The death was reported on Monday. As NYT says, she led a life that could lend itself very well to a Russian novel.
She should interest us Indians; but for the opposition of the Russian state, Svetlana Alliluyeva could have been Svetlana Brijesh Singh.
Brajesh Singh was an Indian aristocrat-turned-communist, who was living in Moscow in 1960s. He belonged to a princely family from Uttar Pradesh. His brother, Dinesh Singh was a minister in Indira Gandhi cabinet.
They met in Moscow, fell in love, though he was critically ill. But Russians did not allow her to marry Singh. (Stalin had passed away long ago, it is difficult to surmise how he could have reacted to the relationship. In 1040s, she had been in love with a flimmaker, a Jew. He was dispatched to Siberia.)
Singh died in 1966. Svetlana was allowed to take his ashes to India, to be immersed in the Ganga as per the Hindu custom. In India, she approached the US embassy, which gave her political asylum. She was flown to USA. There she became Lana Peters, denounced her father as `monster', denounced the Soviet state.
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