Sushma Swaraj, who took diplomacy to the people, passes away

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj passed away after a massive cardiac arrest here late on Tuesday evening. She was 67.
The popular politician, who made the foreign ministry accessible through social media, had health complications arising from diabetes, but was not suffering from any immediate health emergency. She underwent a kidney transplant in 2016 and despite a few spells of hospitalisation, was understood to be getting better.
Sources said Swaraj was doing well till afternoon but around 9.30pm, she suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.She was rushed to AIIMS at 9.45pm. However, Swaraj couldn’t be revived. “She is no more,” AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria confirmed to TOI at 11pm.

An acute diabetic, the BJP leader had tweeted about her kidney failure in 2016. She was admitted to AIIMS on November 7. After she made public her health condition on social media, several people offered their kidneys to her.

There was an outpouring of condolences, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeting, “India grieves the demise of a remarkable leader who devoted her life to public service ... Sushma Swaraj ji was one of her kind, who was a source of inspiration for crores of people.”

BJP president Amit Shah condoled her death and called it an "irreparable" loss. He recalled her role as leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, saying she was a "forceful voice of BJP" in the House. “A powerful orator, she left an indelible mark as a popular leader,” he added.
Swaraj’s long-term colleague and former finance minister Arun Jaitley said he was “saddened, pained and broken on demise of Sushmaji”. “She was one of the most outstanding politicians in the present era. She distinguished in all positions. She leaves behind a void which is difficult to fill,” he added.

Other BJP leaders and those from the opposition expressed shock and grief. President Ram Nath Kovind also offered his condolences.
Swaraj did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls having ruled herself out of electoral politics. Her health and the decision to bid goodbye to the electoral arena were seen to be reasons for her exclusion from the new Modi cabinet that took oath after the BJP repeated its feat of scoring a majority.
She continued to follow current events closely and congratulated the government for its success in nullifying the provisions of Article 370. Soon after Lok Sabha approved the measure on Tuesday, she tweeted, “Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime.”

Ironically, she was rushed to AIIMS after a medical emergency hours later. The doctors worked to revive her but failed and finally declared that the former minister had passed away.
Swaraj had a glittering political career, beginning as an MLA in Haryana in 1977. A native of Ambala, she started as a socialist but gravitated towards BJP where she rose swiftly to become an effective campaigner and public speaker, much in demand at election time. She held portfolios at the Centre, being information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs minister in the Vajpayee government.
The affable politician came across as a traditional yet modern person with her fondness for saris and a prominent bindi sitting easily with an openness to new ideas. She was seen as a key member of BJP’s Gennext after A B Vajpayee and L K Advani along with leaders like Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu and Narendra Modi in the 1990s.
As many of her contemporaries, she found a mentor in Advani who was quick to recognise her potential as a politician with a good turn of phrase and who could articulate BJP’s nationalist and Hindutva agenda at a time when it was far from mainstream. She could easily identify with “cultural issues”, being an advocate of festivals like Teej and Karva Chauth.
In the years that BJP was in the opposition, Swaraj was also a spokesperson, engaging with journalists with an ease that marked her as a skilled communicator. Her 1996 speech in Lok Sabha on the trust vote ranks as one of the best speeches in Parliament.
A politically astute person, she had a facility with languages, picking up Kannada for her famous showdown with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi in Bellary in the 1999 Lok Sabha election. Sonia had filed her nomination from Amethi and Bellary and Swaraj was pitched into the fight in Congress’s southern bastion.
This was the start of a fierce rivalry and which saw Swaraj dramatically pledge that she would shave her head if Sonia were to become PM after NDA lost in 2004. In the event, Sonia declined the post but the competitive spirit — with a few rare flashes of camaraderie — marked their relations.
Swaraj was a very effective orator and she delivered for BJP as leader of opposition in Lok Sabha during UPA-2. She raised the scams that hit the Manmohan Singh government — from Commonwealth Games to coal and 2G — with verve and passion, leading protests that led to the government finally conceding a parliamentary committee on the telecom scam.
A social person, she reached out to people in an easy manner and could communicate in small groups just as well as with large crowds. Her stint as foreign minister saw her bring a popular touch to her assignment in the first Modi government.