The female icon of BJP , Sushma Swaraj breathed her last at Delhi AIIMS
New Delhi : Former External Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj died late Tuesday night shortly after she was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. She was 67.
She was the external affairs minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet in the NDA’s first term. She adjusted to the role and gave the external affairs ministry a human face for the first time. She was the troubleshooter for any Indian stuck anywhere abroad.
She took a personal interest in resolving minor issues like issuance of visa to the needy and getting relief to Indians in distress. She built an Indian human capital abroad and the response was an outpouring of support for the Modi government from the non-resident Indian community.
Swaraj who underwent a kidney transplant a couple of years ago, chose not to contest the last Lok Sabha elections and also opted out of the government.
A few hours before she died she had tweeted her congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Lok Sabha passed the resolution scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution.
“Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime,” she said.
Sushma served as Member of Parliament seven times. She also served as MLA for three terms. She was elected as the 5th Chief Minister of Delhi from 13 October 1998 to 3 December 1998.
Sushma Swaraj was the foreign minister May 26 2014 to May 30 2019. She was the second woman to hold the office, after Indira Gandhi. She had won from Vidisha constituency in Madhya Pradesh for a second term n 2014, retaining her seat by a margin of over 400,000 votes.
Social media is flooded with this shocking news. One of the most prominent opposition leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted on the sudden demise of Sushma Swaraj as ” Shocked and saddened by this news. She was a brilliant speaker in Hindi, a genuine “people’s person” in Government &I was proud of our excellent relationship when I chaired the External Affairs Committee. Om Shanti…”
