Sushma Swaraj, former foreign minister and BJP stalwart, dies at 67  

Sushma Swaraj (February 14, 1952–August 6, 2019)

New Delhi: Former external affairs minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj passed away due to a cardiac arrest, on Tuesday night. She was 67. She breathed her last at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences where she was rushed to in a critical condition, at 9.50pm.

A team of five doctors attended to her in the hospital. Senior BJP ministers Nitin Gadkari, Harsh Vardhan and SS Ahluwalia were present at AIIMS and as soon as the news of former minister passing away trickled in. central ministers and opposition leaders along with many others reached the hospital.

Although, Swaraj did not contest the recent Lok Sabha election citing health reasons but she had represented Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha.

Born on February 14, 1952, in Ambala Cantonment, Sushma Swaraj studied in SD College and the Punjab University in Chandigarh and started with politics by joining protests against Indira Gandhi in 1970, along with her father who was also a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Swaraj was elected to the Parliament seven times and became the youngest cabinet minister of Haryana, at the age of 25, in 1977. She also served as the chief minister of Delhi from 13 October 1998 to 3 December 1998.

However, during her tenure as the external affairs minister between May 2014 and May 2019, Sushma Swaraj was known for her promptness in helping Indians abroad, be it arranging for passport and visa on a short notice or helping families stranded there.

In her last hours, she thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government, in a tweet, for their move on Article 370.

प्रधान मंत्री जी - आपका हार्दिक अभिनन्दन. मैं अपने जीवन में इस दिन को देखने की प्रतीक्षा कर रही थी. @narendramodi ji - Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime.

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) August 6, 2019

Sushma Swaraj is survived by her husband Swaraj Kaushal, 67, and daughter Bansuri Swaraj, 35.

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