Lesser known facts about Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj, the former External Affairs Minister passed away Tuesday night. Reputed for her helpful nature, she was one of the best External Affairs Minister till date.

Here are some lesser-known facts about Sushma Swaraj:

• Sushma Swaraj was the second female Minister of External Affairs in the country after Indira Gandhi.
• Sushma’s parents hailed from Dharampura of Lahore, Pakistan.
• She obtained a bachelor’s degree from S.D. College in Ambala Cantonment with majors in Sanskrit and Political Science.
• She was also a law graduate from Punjab University, Chandigarh.
• Sushma was the best cadet of N.C.C. at S.D. College in her graduation.
• She won the best Hindi Speaker award for three consecutive years in the competition held by the Language Department of Haryana.
• Sushma was an all-rounder with expertise in music, poetry, fine arts and drama.
• She began her political journey by joining Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at the age of 18 years. She was also a popular Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member.
• She became the youngest cabinet minister in the Janata Party government at the age of 25 years.
• Sushma had many firsts to her credit. She was the first female Chief Minister from BJP, Union Cabinet Minister, General Secretary, Leader of Opposition, Spokesperson and Minister of External Affairs.
• She was also the first female Chief Minister of Delhi for a short period from 13 October to 3 December in 1998.
• She had contested against Sonia Gandhi from Bellary constituency in 1999 and lost by 7 per cent margin.
• In her tenure as Union Health Minister from January 2003 to May 2004, six All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had been set up at Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh.
• She was honored with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2004. She was the first and only female MP till date to be honored with that award.
• She played a key role in passing Telangana Bill to form a Telangana State.
• Being one of the most tech-savvy ministers, she helped several people in need by responding immediately to their tweets.

Image Attribution: Andrew Scheer (CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sushma_Swaraj_Ji.jpg