06/08/2019
Sushma Swaraj passes away at 67
A prominent face of woman representation in Indian politics, Sushma Swaraj has been a core member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.er foreign minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has died at the age of 67. A prominent face of woman representation in Indian politics, Sushma Swaraj has also been a core member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
She was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Tuesday after suffering a cardiac arrest.
But it is not just her politics that has made her a household name. A leader that rose to prominence under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, she is perhaps most famous for living upto Vajpayee's doctrine of winning the people's hearts.
As the foreign minister in the first Modi cabinet, her humanitarian approach to dealing with issues of international relations, made her a fan favourite. She took 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.
She was the second woman to take charge of the foreign ministry after Indira Gandhi.
However, ill health forced her to step out of politics. Last November, she had announced she will not be contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
A hallmark of the Modi government has been its ability to fully utilise social media to reach out the youth. And no one adopted this better than Sushma Swaraj. From reaching out to distressed Indians abroad to savage replies to trolls to sweet lovable banter with her husband former Governor Swaraj Kaushal, Sushma Swaraj was the heart of the internet savvy Modi era of politics.
But Sushma Swaraj was no political newcomer. A seasoned politician, she was a seven-time MP and a three-time MLA. She became the youngest cabinet minister of Haryana at the mere age of 25, way back in 1977. She eventually went on to hold many illustrious political posts -- from the CM of Delhi to a Union minister as well as the Leader of Opposition during the UPA II tenure.
Her association with the Sangh came from birth. She was born into a family of RSS members in Haryana in 1953. As she went on to become a practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court, she became closely associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of RSS. Her expertise in law led her to become a member of socialist leader George Fernandes's legal team during the Emergency. After being an active member of Jayaprakash Narayan's anti-Emergency movement, she became a member of the BJP.
Her demise comes on a day the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to achieve its long-held dream -- of repealing the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. As Parliament approved the move, Swaraj shared her elation on Twitter. Perhaps the most poetic part of it all, her tweet thanking PM Modi read, "I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime". And see it, she did. Source:India today news https://www.indiatoday.in
