In pictures: Sushma Swaraj — a people’s minister and politician of many firsts

A loyal BJP leader and an easily-accessible external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj has left behind a legacy of possibilities she opened up for women politicians in a male-dominated party like the BJP.

Sushma Swaraj talking to PM Modi and Amit Shah | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

New Delhi: 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 Tuesday 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.

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 | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Sushma Swaraj started her political life with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS’ student wing, and later joined the BJP | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Ambala-born Swaraj 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 | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

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 | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Swaraj has also held the portfolios of Telecommunications, Health and Family Welfare, and Parliamentary Affairs in the Union Cabinet | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

A law graduate who practised in the Supreme Court, Sushma Swaraj was elected seven times as a member of Parliament and three times as a member of the legislative assembly | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Sushma Swaraj was the first Indian to speak at the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) summit in March 2019, 50 years after an Indian delegation was stopped from speaking at the summit | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

As Union minister for external affairs, Sushma was possibly the most hands-on minister in social media usage in the Ministry’s history | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Her legacy will be the possibilities she opened up for women politicians in a male-dominated party like the BJP | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Sushma Swaraj will be remembered for how she helped resolve the prickly Doklam standoff between the Indian and Chinese sides in 2017 | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

With PTI inputs