Sushma Swaraj Passes Away At 67: Political Journey Of Delhi’s First Female Chief Minister

Senior BJP leader and Former Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj passed away on Tuesday night. The BJP veteran, who suffered a massive heart attack, died at the age of 67. Her last Twitter post was about thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the government’s move on Kashmir stating that she was waiting for this day in her lifetime. Swaraj, who was for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s most prominent woman face, did not contest the recently held Lok Sabha elections due to health problems.

प्रधान मंत्री जी - आपका हार्दिक अभिनन्दन. मैं अपने जीवन में इस दिन को देखने की प्रतीक्षा कर रही थी. @narendramodi ji - Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime.

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) August 6, 2019

Sushma Swaraj began her political career in the 1970s. She had served four terms in the Lok Sabha and represented Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. Besides being external affairs minister, she was also the Minister of Overseas Indian Affair from May 26, 2014, to January 7, 2016.

Her Career And Political Journey

Sushma Swaraj earned a bachelor’s degree with majors in Sanskrit and Political science from Sanatan Dharma College, Ambala. After that, she studied law at Punjab University, Chandigarh.

In the 1970s, she began her political career with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Later, she had joined the Bhartiya Janata Party after the Emergency of 1975. Swaraj had won her first election at the age of 25 in 1977 from the Ambala Cantonment Assembly constituency. In July 1977, she had become a Cabinet Minister in the Janata Party Government under the leadership of then Chief Minister Devi Lal. She was also the Education Minister of Haryana state in the Bhartiya Janata Party- Lok Dal coalition government during the period of 1987 to 1990.

Marriage

Sushma Swaraj got married to Swaraj Kaushal in the height of Emergency on July 13, 1975. The duo met during their college days while studying law in Delhi and then worked as a part of George Fernandes's legal defense team.

First Female Chief Minister Of Delhi

Swaraj served as first female Chief Minister of Delhi from October 13, 1993, to December 3, 1998.

Information & Broadcasting Minister

Swaraj was re-elected from South Delhi Parliamentary Constituency for the second term in March 1998. She had become a Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting under the second term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. During her rule, she declared film production as an industry, which made the Indian film industry eligible for bank finance. She also started community radio at universities and other institution.

In 1999, Sushma Swaraj contested against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi from the Bellary constituency in Karnataka. She secured 358,000 votes in just 12 days of her election campaign. However, she lost the election by a 7% margin.

Union Health Minister

She was appointed as the Minister of Health, Family Welfare, and Parliamentary Affairs in January 2003. During her tenure as Union Health Minister, she set up six AIIMS branches in 6 different states.

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Minister Of External Affairs

From May 2014 to May 2019, Swaraj had served as the Indian Minister of External Affairs under the leadership of Prime Minister Narender Modi. After Indira Gandhi, she was the second woman to hold this position.

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