Leaders cutting across party lines pay tributes to Sushma Swaraj

PM Modi says he has learnt a lot from the veteran leader

[File] BJP workers pay tribute to former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj in Amritsar on August 7 | AFP [File] BJP workers pay tribute to former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj in Amritsar on August 7 | AFP

Political leaders, cutting across the party lines, on Tuesday paid emotional tributes to veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who passed away last week. They recalled Swaraj's long tenure as a political leader who touched many lives as she brought personal warmth in her interactions. Often called didi by most leaders, Sushma was remembered for her helpful nature, maternal instincts, effective leadership and oratorical skills as a politician.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had learnt a lot from her though she was younger to him, and recalled several moments of his interactions with her. Modi said Swaraj had on an earlier occasion also decided not to contest elections. “That time Venkaiah Naidu and I met her and convinced her to go to Karnataka as it was a tough situation. She did not wait for a moment. She went there to contest even knowing the result,” the PM said referring to the contest in which she took on Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But this time she declared her decision publically so that no one forced her to contest again, he added.

Modi also referred to her decision to vacate her official residence after her decision to not contest elections. 

The prime minister said when he spoke to Bansuri (Swaraj's daughter), she had said her mother went away very happy. She was in high spirits, Modi said as he recalled how much she spoke on Kashmir at the international fora. He praised Bansuri, saying he saw Swaraj's reflection in her.

Modi said Swaraj was a Lord Krishna follower and had always greeted him as “Jai Shri Krishna”, and he used to respond, “Jai Shri Dwarkadish”.

“She changed the way external affairs ministry was run. She took a lot of effort to change things, the way she engaged with foreign dignitaries. In last 70 years there were 77 passport offices, but in last five years over 500 offices were set up. This shows the scale of work she handled,” Modi said at the tribute ceremony organised by the party at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi.

Modi recalled when he went to speak at the UN for the first time, she asked him for the copy of his speech. “I had not prepared a speech. I said I will speak. She said this is not how things are done at the international fora. She insisted that a written speech be prepared. She taught me that lesson.”

She had a Haryanvi touch as she was straightforward and firm in expressing her views, the PM said. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recalled a moment in 1994 when both Swaraj and him were Rajya Sabha members. “She was walking ahead of me in Rajya Sabha. I called her Sushma Di. As she heard she held my hands and expressed her gratitude and even had moist eyes as I had called her my elder sister. She won people's hearts.” 

“Her speech on June 11, 1996 during the confidence motion is always remembered as one of finest speeches. She always spoke on issues related to party's ideological views, even on Article 370. Even her last tweet was on Article 370. She said she wanted to see that day (when the government abrogated Article 370) in her lifetime. I believe she spoke from the heart,” Singh said. Rajnath, who earlier was the party president, said she was always in demand by cadre to give speech during the elections.

BJP chief and Home Minister Amit Shah said Swaraj's voice would always reverberate in the Parliament as she spoke firmly. He paid tributes on behalf of all the BJP cadre.

J.P. Nadda, the BJP's working president, said, “Through her Twitter interaction during her tenure as external affairs minister, she saved hundreds of people. She helped everyone. Her personal quality of maternal love and personal warmth always touched many lives.”   

Congress leader Anand Sharma said they had many differences between them, but they didn't allow them to sour their relations. “At one time when we (Congress) were in the government, she had a different position on an issue. She spoke firmly. And later in the evening she called me and said I spoke very well,” Sharma said.

Members from different parties spoke on the occasion. “We came to Rajya Sabha at same time in 1990. We were in same flight. She came to me and introduced herself, and said we would work together,” Dinesh Trivedi from the Trinamool Congress said.

RSS' joint secretary general Krishna Gopal said Swaraj had told him that as she could not devote much time to her constituency because of her illness, she decided not to contest. She said she wanted to devote time for spiritual things. She was reading religious books.  

Gopal said Swaraj's biggest attribute was her maternal instinct. “When a person named Hamid Ansari, an engineer from Mumbai, went to Pakistan and was detained there, she wrote 96 letters that even Ansari was surprised.  Similarly when AIDS patients came to meet her, she hugged them. She spent a lot of time to locate parents of Geeta, a girl from Pakistan. This was all because of her maternal affection, Gopal said.

Senior leader Sharad Yadav said she had often told him that even a tough message can be delivered in a civilised manner, whenever he used to say harsh words in his speech.