EAM S Jaishankar fondly remembers Sushma Swaraj on death anniversary

New Delhi, Aug 05: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday fondly remembered his predecessor late Sushma Swaraj on her third death anniversary.

He posted a picture of the two together and wrote, "Fondly remember Sushma Swaraj ji on the anniversary of her passing away. In our thoughts, so many times in so many ways. [sic]"

Swaraj was replaced by S Jaishankar as the foreign minister in 2019 after she opted out of contenting the elections due to health reasons. She left behind a legacy of an easily-accessible minister who helped the diaspora in distress with her revolutionary social media outreach.

Several path-breaking measures such as the passport infrastructure expansion and enhanced engagement with the East were the highlights of her tenure as the external affairs minister.

Sushma Swaraj was only the second woman to hold the portfolio after Indira Gandhi, who briefly kept the external affairs ministry under her while being the prime minister.

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. She started her political life with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS' student wing, and later joined the BJP.

Sushma Swaraj breathed her last at the age of 67 here on the night of August 6, 2019.