In 2006 , Deshpande championed clemency for Afzal Guru , who had been convicted of a terrorist attack on Indian Parliament in 2001 . ( The attack had resulted in the death of 13 people . ) Deshpande visited many cities in the United States of America on a tour organized by a prominent Indian American from Lansing , Michigan in the last few years of her life . She was member of a Rajya Sabha , when she died in her sleep in the early hours of 1 May 2008 , in New Delhi at the age of 79
terrorist attack on Indian Parliament
2001 Indian Parliament attack
Nirmala Deshpande