A stalwart of Indian politics, our beloved Sushma Swaraj ji, passed away last night in New Delhi. Her untimely demise marks the end of an era of Indian politics. Sushma ji’s life was a true inspiration for a lot of us.
Her initiation to politics took place at a time when there were very few women in Indian politics. She was an active participant of the movement launched by Jayprakash ji in response to the Emergency declared in 1975. She later contested elections in 1977 from Haryana. Sushma ji had the honour of holding many prestigious positions. She was the youngest cabinet minister who served in the Haryana government; Sushma ji was only 25 years. She was also the first full-time female minister for external affairs. She was elected seven times as a Member of the Parliament. She held the position of chief minister of Delhi for a short while in 1998 and was the first female chief minister of Delhi.
During the 12th Lok Sabha, Sushma ji served as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. One of her significant decisions as a Minister of this portfolio was declaring film production as an industry. This enabled the Indian film industry to seek loans from banks. She also encouraged the commencement of community radio at universities and other educational institutions. She served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in between 2003-2004. True to her nature, she brought in a slew of reforms. She was instrumental in setting up six All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Bhopal (MP), Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Rishikesh (Uttrakhand).
She was also the chief architect of ensuring access to anti-retro viral therapy (ART) for patients who were HIV positive. She was warned by WHO to not sign off on the implementation of ART as it had too many challenges for India. According to WHO, the implementation would lead to the generation of high resistance strains of the virus. On December 1, 2003 which is also known as the World AIDS Day, she announced the National ART Programme. This programme remains one of the best and largest public health projects implemented in India.
In 2009, she became the first female leader of Opposition and held the position till 2014. When Modi ji was elected as the Prime Minister in 2014, Sushma ji was given the high profile portfolio of External Affairs. She was one the most accessible Minister of External Affairs who interacted with the Indian citizens and other people through social media. It shows that she truly cared for the people.
She oversaw Operation Rahat in 2015. The operation was launched by Indian armed forces to evacuate more than 4,000 Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from Yemen. This was during the military intervention of Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The constant bombing by Saudi Arabia had made the evacuation a near impossible feat. But under her guidance, the operation was brought to fruition.
Sushma ji was also the first Indian to address the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting as the guest of honour. This was the first time that India was invited to this meeting in five decades. It was also an achievement because this meeting was on the heels of the high Indo-Pak tension in 2018. On 19 February 2019, Sushma ji was felicitated with the prestigious Grand Cross of Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish government. This award was conferred in recognition of India’s support in evacuating Spanish citizens from Nepal during the horrific earthquake in 2015.
A prolific orator and a great Parliamentarian, Sushma ji had a personal connect with her constituents. In fact, the Wall Street Journal named her Indian’s best loved politician and there are several anecdotal evidences to support the title. She always responded to the cry for help. In 2018, her relentless efforts ensured that Hamid Ansari, who was detained by the Pakistani forces and served a sentence for three years, came back to India. She helped a 14-year-old girl obtain a visa to travel to London for a conference. She extended her assistance a woman, whose brother had gone to Kuwait for some official work and she had lost contact with him. In 2018, a group of Indian students of the University of Illinois lost their passports in a fire accident. They reached out to her on Twitter and Sushmaji was prompt in helping them out. She was truly India’s beloved politician!
My deepest condolences to her husband, Swaraj ji and her daughter. May Sushma ji’s soul rest in peace.