Remembering Sushma Swaraj: An empathetic leader who often rescued Indians stuck overseas

Former external affairs Sushma Swaraj breathed her last on Tuesday night after suffering a cardiac arrest. The ex-Union minister, who passed away at the age of 67, has often been named as the most-admired Indian leader of all time. From helping Indians stuck overseas to interacting with the youth on micro-blogging platform Twitter, she emerged as the one of the most-popular leaders during her term in Parliament. The Washington Post, in one of its pieces, named her India's 'Supermom', and rightly so. Swaraj's eagerness to help, kindness, quick wit and round-the-clock presence on Twitter are some of the reasons why she continues to hold a special place in people's hearts.
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Throughout her term as a minister of external affairs, Swaraj lent a helping hand to Indians stuck overseas. Some of these people even remembered the time when she turned to them in an hour of need. Swaraj was the person who defined 'digital diplomacy', the use of social media to further diplomatic concerns for a state.

In a video shared on Twitter, Swaraj is seen with a boy named Hamid Ansari and his mother. Ansari was held in a Pakistan jail. On returning to India, he met with the cabinet minister along with his mother.



On several occasions, she extended support to people from other nationalities as well. In 2017, the former BJP leader impressed the nation when she granted a year-long medical visa to a Pakistani girl for an open heart surgery. She continued to extend the medical visas of two other Pakistanis in the same year for liver surgeries.

In 2015, Swaraj offered humanitarian aid to a Yemeni woman married to an Indian man. While sharing a picture with her baby, the lady made a plea for safe evacuation from a conflicted area.

In 2015, hundreds of Indians stuck in Basra (Iran) received Swaraj's support, and all this on the basis of a video she received on social media. Later, in the same year, she helped an Indian who lost his wallet and passport in Germany.

Last year, a Kashmiri medical student in Philippines sought her help with a damaged passport. However, the student wrote in his tweet that he hails from India-occupied Kashmir. While assuring help to the student, Swaraj corrected him by saying that there is no such place as India-occupied Kashmir.



On many other occasions, Swaraj won hearts with her kindness. The only thing common with all these people was that they reached out to her on social media, and the minister, without delay, turned to their support in an hour of need.