Calls her fierce leader, great orator

New Delhi: Illustrious BJP leader, one of the most prolific politicians of India and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (67), breathed her last after a cardiac arrest yesterday night. 

Sushma’s sudden demise triggered a wave of shock and grief with leaders cutting across political spectrum paying glowing tributes to the astute leader. She had brought a rare empathy and a human approach to India’s diplomacy. Leaders and office-bearers of United Nations, diplomats and ambassadors of Israel, China and other countries mourned the death and called her a great orator. 

Condoling the death of the veteran BJP leader, Delhi Government has declared a two-day State mourning as a mark of respect. Sushma is survived by her husband Swaraj Kaushal and daughter Bansuri. 

Sushma Swaraj had a kidney transplant in 2016 and had opted out of contesting Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.

As soon as news about Sushma’s death broke, her followers all over the world mourned her death. Social media got flooded with tributes for the remarkable leader. Among the many moving messages, President Ram Nath Kovind said he was shocked to hear the news while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this is the end of a glorious chapter in Indian politics.

The body of the former Union Minister was kept at her home until 11 am and was shifted to the BJP headquarters for the leaders to pay tributes. Last rites will be performed at the Lodhi crematorium at 3 pm today.

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and his daughter Pratibha had an emotional moment when they reached at Sushma Swaraj’s residence to pay their last respects. Both Advani and Pratibha broke down as they were consoling Swaraj Kaushal, Sushma’s husband. 

A fiery speech in 1996

On June 11, 1996, Sushma Swaraj, while making her most impassioned speech on the floor of the Lok Sabha, talked about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s long-term plan of repealing Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. 

Twenty-three summers later, the senior BJP leader expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for revoking the same Article, in her last tweet hours before she breathed her last. “@narendramodi ji – Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime,” she wrote moments before she was taken to AIIMS, Delhi, after suffering a massive heart attack, where she was declared dead.

The 1996 speech in Parliament was when Sushma stood for speaking against the no-confidence motion. She lashed out at her political opponents after Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to resign from the Prime Minister’s post.

“We are communal, because we want to abolish the Article 370, we are communal, because we want to put an end to discrimination based on caste and creed in this country… Mr Speaker, we are communal, because we want the voices of the Kashmiri refugees to be heard,” she had said.

Amid a roaring House, Swaraj had laid the foundation for what would go on to be                                                                                  one of the most landmark decisions taken by any government of the country since Independence.

A helping hand to everyone

Swaraj, who was India’s first full-time woman Foreign Minister, extended a helping hand to many Indians in distress abroad. She was known as one of the most accessible Ministers in the first term of the Narendra Modi government. 

As External Affairs Minister, Sushma brought a sense of assertiveness in India’s diplomacy and played a key role in resolving the Doklam standoff with China in 2017. She had also played a key role in India approaching the International Court of Justice challenging a Pakistani military court’s death sentence to Kulbhushan Jadhav. She was known for prompt response on Twitter to address grievances of overseas Indians.