Sushma Swaraj passes away: Times when she turned Messiah to people in trouble

Former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj was one of the prompt ministers one could ever find. As the veteran leader breathed her last in Delhi on Tuesday, here’s looking back at some of the moments when her quick responses or the use of 140 characters (or 280 characters) helped not just Indians but even people of other nationalities across the globe. 

After four years into her tenure in 2018, Sushma Swaraj rescued 90,000 Indians in troubled situations worldwide. The former Minister at her annual press conference in May 2018 had said, “We have rescued 90,000 Indians in distress in the past four years.” 

168 stranded Indians in Basra, Iraq, were rescued with help of Sushma Swaraj’s efforts on the basis of a video tweeted to her in February 2015.

One of the highlights of her term as EAM was when she oversaw the rescue of 1,947 foreign nationals and 4,741 Indians via air and sea routes in war-torn Yemen in 2015. 

She had also helped an Indian who had lost her passport in Germany and also responded to a woman’s plea about her parents losing their passports in May, 2015.

In April 2015, Sushma Swaraj had replied to a Yemeni woman, who sought help to be evacuated by tweeting a photo of her 8-month-old baby. She had then tweeted, “It is our duty towards our country and countrymen. God bless your child - our young citizen.” 

Not just Indians, she also helped evacuate three Pakistanis from Hodeida in Yemen with the help of the Indian Navy. In April 2015, Sushma Swaraj was lauded for helping stranded Germans out of Yemen. 

In March 2016, she had assisted in the rescue of a person from Doha airport after his brother tweeted about it. 

Sushma Swaraj’s efforts helped save a girl from trafficking in UAE in February 2016. She also rescued a woman being kept under house arrest in South Africa. 

The former Minister also helped a man in attending the funeral of his brother, a Captain in the Army in February 2016.

She had even come to the rescue of a woman when the hospital refused to take insurance guarantee in Bali. 

In 2018, she helped the visa clearance for a 14-year-old student to go to London. 

Even actor Karanvir Bohra had thanked Sushma Swaraj for a new passport when he was stuck in Russia in 2019.