The Life and Political Journey of Late Sushma Swaraj: Supreme Court lawyer and an Indian Politician

Sushma Swaraj Biography, Political Life, Education, Family, Awards.

Sushma Swaraj was a Supreme Court lawyer and an Indian politician. She was a senior leader of the BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party. She served as the Minister of External Affairs of India during the first Narendra Modi government.

After Indira Gandhi, she was the first woman to hold office. Seven times, she was elected as Member of Parliament and three times as a member of the Legislative Assembly.

In 1977 at the age of 25, she became the youngest cabinet minister of the Indian State of Haryana. She became the first Chief Minister of Delhi. She won from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh in 2014.

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She became Minister of External Affairs in the union cabinet minister in 2014. Sushma Swaraj was called India’s “best-loved politician” by Wall Street Journal, the US daily newspaper.

She did not Modi Ministry’s second time due to her health. According to doctors at AIIMS New Delhi, she had cardiac arrest following by a heart attack on 6th August 2019.

She was awarded India’s second-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan in 2020 in the field of Public Affairs.

Early life and education:

Sushma Swaraj was born at Ambala Cantonment, Haryana on 14th February 1952. Her father Hardev Sharma was a prominent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member and the mother’s name was Shrimati Laxmi Devi.

Her parents were from Lahore, Pakistan. She completed her bachelor with Sanskrit and Political Science from Sanatan Dharma College in Ambala Cantonment. She studied Law from Punjab University Chandigarh. She was the best Hindi Speaker.

Political Journey and personal life:

Sushma Swaraj married to Swaraj Kaushal on 13th July 1975. He was a peer and fellow advocate at the Supreme Court of India.

The emergency movement bought them together. He also served as Governor of Mizoram from 1990 to 1993.

He was a member of parliament from 1998 to 2004. Their daughter Bansuri is a graduate from Oxford University and a Barrister from Inner Temple.

On 10th December 2016, she had a kidney transplant at AIIMS, Delhi. She started her career as an advocate in the Supreme Court of India in 1973.

She started her political career with Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 1970. After the Emergency, she joined BJP and later became a national leader.

State-level Political Journey:

From 1977 to 1982 and 1987 to 1990, she was a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly. She took oath as a Cabinet Minister in the Janata Party under Chief Minister Devi Lal.

At the age of 27, in 1979 she became state President of the Janata Party-Haryana. From 1987 to 1990, she worked as the Education Minister of Haryana in the BJP-Lok Dal.

She became the first female Chief Minister of Delhi in October 1998 and then resigned from the position in December the same year.

National level Political Journey:

She was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha in April 1990 and remained there until elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from South Delhi constituency in 1996.

She was Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting during the 13-day government of PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1996.

In March 1998, she was re-elected to the 12th Lok Sabha from South Delhi for the second term.

She took oath as Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting with an additional charge of the Ministry of Telecommunications from 19th March 1998 to 12th October 1998. 

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She declared film production as an industry; it made the Indian film industry eligible for bank finance. She started community radio at universities and other institutions too.

BJP nominated her to contest against Sonia Gandhi in the 13th Lok Sabha election, from Bellary, Karnataka. However, she lost the election by a nominal margin of 7% only, but she secured 358,000 votes in just 12 days of the election campaign.

In April 2000, she returned to parliament as a Rajya Sabha member from Utter Pradesh. Then she was relocated to Uttrakhand when a new state was carved from Uttar Pradesh in November 2000.

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From September 2000 to January 2003, she was selected as the Minister for Information and Broadcasting into the Union Cabinet. From January 2003 to May 2004, she was Minister of Health, Family Welfare, and Parliamentary Affairs.

As Union Health Minister, she set up six “All India Institute of Medical Science” at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh. Again, she was elected to Rajya Sabha for the third term in April 2006 from Madhya Pradesh.

Until April 2009, she served as the Deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha. In 2009, she won the 15th Lok Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh by the highest margin of over 400,000 votes.

She became the leader of opposition in place of Lal Krishna Advani in 2009 and retained that position until May 2014. BJP won Indian General Election with a major margin.

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Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019, she served as the Indian Minister of External Affairs. She was the second woman to hold this position after Indira Gandhi.

In 2014, she was highly criticized when she urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare Bhagavad Gita as the national book of India. As External Affairs Minister, she played a big role in bringing back Indian girl ‘Geeta’ from Pakistan.

Distinctions and records:

She became the youngest Cabinet Minister in the Government of Haryana at the age of 25 in 1977. In 1979, at the age of 27, she became State President of Janata Party, Haryana.

She was the first spoke person of a national political party in India. She was BJP’s first female Chief Minister, Union Cabinet Minister, Spoke person, Leader of opposition, Minister of External Affairs, and general secretary.

Read Book: Smt. Sushma Swaraj Ji

She was Indian Parliament’s first and the only MP female honored with the Outstanding Parliament Award. For four years, she has served as the President of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in Haryana.

In 2019, the Spanish government offered her prestigious Grand Cross of Order of Civil Merit, India’s support in evacuating its citizens from Nepal during an earthquake in 2015.

Death:

Sushma Swaraj reportedly suffered a heart attack on the evening of 6th August 2019. After that, she was rushed to AIIMS New Delhi, but unfortunately, she later died due to a cardiac arrest. The next day, she was cremated with full state honors at the Lodhi crematorium in Delhi.

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