Late on the evening of August 6, I received the news that Sushma Swaraj, former external affairs minister of India and a veteran BJP leader, had passed away.
Sushma Swaraj was no ordinary leader and individual. Her spirit, fortitude and tenacity, makes her an icon in India today. When I think of her achievements, there are so many images that flood my mind. An extraordinary political leader who was a gifted orator, known for her feisty speeches in Parliament. A minister with a motherly touch who empathized with the plight of several Indians around the world, reaching out to people in distress. She was a lady of substance, who earned love and respect across party lines, including from members of the opposition. When she spoke, people listened.
Sushma Swaraj had her first brush with active politics as a student leader in 1970. Political activism was in her blood. She was a participant in India’s anti-emergency movement and later became a practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court of India, where she met her husband, Swaraj Kaushal.
Becoming the youngest-ever cabinet minister for the Indian state of Haryana in 1977, at 25 years of age, she was also the first woman chief minister of Delhi and served as the Minister of External Affairs of India from 26 May 2014 to 30 May 2019. She was elected seven times as a member of parliament and three times as a member of the legislative assembly. She remains the only female MP in India to be honored with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award. Even at 67, when she served her fourth term in the Lok Sabha, she was her party’s most prominent woman face.
Not known to mince words, she even spoke her mind a day before her death, on the 5th of August, when the Indian government scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution in a bid to reorganize the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Sushma Swaraj took to twitter to thank the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, saying, “Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime.”
I echo the Indian Prime Minister’s sentiments, when he said that with Sushma Swaraj’s death, “a glorious chapter in Indian politics comes to an end”. I feel that in our current political system very few, if any, have devoted as much of their life to public service, as Sushma Swaraj. She is a source of inspiration to millions of Indians around the world.
My mind is filled with images of the several milestone moments of her political career. I always admired the warm but professional demeanour she radiated, when interacting with leaders and politicians from around the world. She effortlessly bridged political differences with her deft diplomacy, striding the world stage in her quintessential vibrant nine-yard sari and exuding a quiet confidence with her characteristic smile. She reflected the beauty of Indian culture in her attire, the bindi, or dot, on her forehead, the subtle low bun and the bright red vermilion in her hair. It’s unusual to see a world leader dress in a fashion so traditional and particular to their roots, and yet with such élan, in the highest echelons of the world’s power circles.
I still remember when Narendra Modi stormed to a landslide victory in 2014, there was still an uncertainly about what India’s foreign policy would look like under the new government. Modi had carried with him the negative press that came in the aftermath of the Gujarat riots. People were skeptical about Indian diplomacy, the world observed keenly as to what role his cabinet would play in foreign affairs. Over time Modi surprised the skeptics by rebranding himself as India’s global ambassador, traversing the globe and meeting several world leaders in the first few months of his tenure.
As the Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj was key to complementing the Modi government’s stated philosophical belief of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (a Sanskrit phrase that means “the world is one family”), by literally making the foreign ministry approachable for several people in distress, anywhere in the world. She made twitter her help hotline and used technology and social media to expedite queries. So, whether there were passport or visa problems, a person stranded in a foreign land, cases of illegal detention of Indians, all you had to do was tweet Sushma Swaraj.
She reached out to foreign nationals as well, often assisting critically ill patients from Pakistan, who needed medical visas to visit India for life-saving procedures. She looked beyond political limitations and put compassion above all else. In 2018 Sushma Swaraj’s twitter follower count crossed the 11 million mark, making her the world’s most followed female leader.
When it came to protecting her own countrymen, such as Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was arrested in Pakistan on charges of terrorism, she was a like a tenacious tigress, who left no stone unturned to escalate the matter to the International Court of Justice, successfully staying his execution.
She once tweeted that even if an individual who needed assistance happened to be stuck on Mars, the “Indian Embassy there will help.” Considering India’s Mars Orbiter Mission entered into Martian orbit on September 24, 2014, in its first attempt, it may not be too long before her prophecy comes true, especially if the external affairs ministry continues to work on the principles she lived her life by!
There is a saying that there is nothing a woman cannot do if she sets her mind to it. Sushma Swaraj was the first Indian to address the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting earlier this year, as the guest of honour. For India, this was a huge diplomatic victory – our country was invited for the first time in five decades, especially at the height of Indo-Pak tensions after the Indian Air Force’s strike in Balakot, across the Line of Control (LoC), in retaliation for the Pulwama attack.
A lady of true determination and courage, India will feel her loss at many levels. But what we should celebrate today is her life. She celebrated tradition and modernity with equal aplomb and showed the world what nari Shakti, or the power of a woman, can truly achieve.
