Anish Dhopeshwarkar
Stalwart from Haryana, member of the core BJP right from it’s Jan Sangh days and a “maa” to the Indian diaspora abroad. That’s how India remembers our ex foreign minister Sushma Swaraj. She first appeared on the radar of the saffron party during the emergency era, when a young, just out of college lawyer, still in her early 20s was appointed on the team to represent George Fernandes inone of his cases.
Those were the days when criteria to join BJP or Jana Sangh were really hard and the candidates had to go through a “ideological test”. After that, there was no looking back. Heading the BJP Mahila Morcha in conservative region like Haryana to becoming the youngest cabinet minister the world has ever seen, Sushmaji the voice and face of India in the world. While each task, each responsibility more challenging than the previous, there stood a resilient yet calm Iron Lady of Haryana- Sushma Swaraj.
Narendra Modi and BJP were the firsts to make an effective use of social media for political campaign. It was predominantly looked upon as an “addiction” of today’s youth rather than a life saving tool. Most of the Government ministries and department didn’t even have a webpage! But things took a drastic change after 2014. Soon all the departments and their respected ministers were asked to go online, and one of it was ministry of Foreign Affairs.
People can relate to lethargy of the bureaucrats or babus as shown in movies. But she had some different plans for the ministry. After taking charge she made sure that being a representative of the people it was her prime duty to be accessible to them during their times of distress. Soon it became a hit, where members of Indian diaspora spread across the world started pouring their problems to her personal twitter handle, and she personally made sure that all the queries and worries were resolved. The perception and the whole outlook towards Ministry of External Affairs was changed!
Times like Operation Rahat, Docklam tested the grit and temperament of the minister, but like a wall she stood there tackling and navigating the nation through difficult times. Command over vocabulary and oratory skills were here most lethal weapons, aimed at opposition, to systematically break down any unscrupulous attack on the party and the ideology she represented. Whether it was UN summit or any summit of the regional groups, it was a common site to see a short, saree-ed woman among a group of suit-ed diplomats and foreign ministers.
There is no shortage of” in politics, but it’s the straightforward, truthful, fearless people who are despised yet demanded. In spite of being from the Vajpayee-Advani group of the party she was among delegation which was tasked to “negotiate” transfer of leadership from Advani to the new leaders after 2009 defeat. Diagnosed with Kidney ailment much before the elections were declared she herself decided not to contest the ’19 polls.
For someone like her who believed in merit over any of such man-made barriers today, messages of gratitude are pouring in from all over world. Her amicable behaviour towards people, even made her foes shed some tears on the news of her demise.
