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Updated August 7th, 2019 at 08:37 IST

Sushma Swaraj passes away: People's minister and politician of many firsts - here's a look at her political journey

A powerful orator, an easily-accessible external affairs minister and a politician of many firsts, Sushma Swaraj was a loyal BJP soldier who was always ready to face a challenge.

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A powerful orator, an easily-accessible external affairs minister and a politician of many firsts, Sushma Swaraj was a loyal BJP soldier who was always ready to face a challenge.

Swaraj's attachment with the party ideology and principles was apparent even hours before she passed away as she tweeted to congratulate Prime Narendra Modi after the Centre's move to revoke the special status for Jammu and Kashmir. 

"I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime," she said.

She passed away at AIIMS on August 6 night after suffering a cardiac arrest. She was 67.

Swaraj, who had a kidney transplant in 2016, had opted out of fighting the Lok Sabha elections this year due to health reasons.

She was not part of the Modi government this time and S Jaishankar replaced her as the External Affairs Minister. She left behind a legacy of an easily-accessible minister who helped the diaspora in distress with her revolutionary social media outreach.

Several path-breaking measures such as the passport infrastructure expansion and enhanced engagement with the East were the highlights of her tenure as the external affairs minister.

She was only the second woman to hold the portfolio after Indira Gandhi, who briefly kept the external affairs ministry under her while being the prime minister.

Swaraj had many firsts to her credit such as being the youngest cabinet minister in the Haryana government, first woman chief minister of Delhi and the first woman spokesperson for a national political party in the country.

She started her political life with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS' student wing, and later joined the BJP.

She was the Information and Broadcasting Minister in the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996 and got the Cabinet portfolio again after he led the BJP to power in 1998.

READ | Sushma Swaraj Passes Away: Foreign Ministers Who Had Engaged With Her Pay Emotional Respects

Always eager to take on a challenge, Swaraj contested against the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Bellary in 1999 Lok Sabha polls. Though she fell short of votes, she grew in stature.

Long seen as a protege of veteran BJP leader L K Advani, she also was the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha between 2009-14.

Swaraj, a law graduate who practised in the Supreme Court, was elected seven times as a member of Parliament and three times as a member of the legislative assembly.

Swaraj has also held the portfolios of Telecommunications, Health and Family Welfare, and Parliamentary Affairs in the Union Cabinet.

She was married to Swaraj Kaushal, a designated senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India who served as Governor of Mizoram from 1990 to 1993. Kaushal was also a Member of Parliament from 1998 to 2004.

Swaraj was also the recipient of the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award.

During her tenure as the external affairs minister, she handled several strategically-sensitive issues, including Indo-Pak and Sino-India relations.

Her role in resolving the prickly Doklam standoff between the Indian and Chinese sides will be remembered.

Though known to be a tough fighter in the political battlefield, Swaraj was admired and respected across party lines. 

Sushma Swaraj, before joining politics, practised law as an advocate at the Supreme Court of India in 1973, following which she joined the ABVP. Later, she went on to participate in Jayprakash Narayan's movement during the Emergency, after which she joined the newly founded BJP.

In her path-breaking political career, Swaraj served as the Chief Minister of Delhi, and then, in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, as a union minister in multiple ministries.

In the first Modi government, she was appointed as the External Affairs Minister - a portfolio she redefined owing to her hands-on approach wherein she would often respond to citizens' queries on Twitter. She declined to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

READ | Sushma Swaraj Passes Away: When Foreign Citizens Thanked Her For Her Alacrity As External Affairs Minister

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Published August 7th, 2019 at 08:37 IST

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