Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to late BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on her birth anniversary on February 14 by sharing an anecdote about her visit to his home state Gujarat 25 years ago.
Narendra Modi said in a Facebook post that Sushma Swaraj had come to Gujarat for an election-related tour. At that time, he worked as an organiser for the BJP.
As part of her tour, Swaraj had also visited Modi’s village Vadnagar and met his mother Heeraben. The meeting with Swaraj seems to have had an impact on her as she later decided to name a child in the family after her.
“At that time, a baby girl had been born to my nephew,” Modi said in the post. “Astrologers picked a name for her based on stars and the family decided to adhere to them. But my mother said the baby’s name would be Sushma.”
Read: 5 times Sushma Swaraj won hearts with her Twitter outreach
Modi added: “My mother was not very educated but she had modern views. I still remember the way she pronounced her decision at that time.”
Several other political leaders joined Modi in paying tribute to Swaraj, who passed away after a cardiac arrest in 2019. Swaraj is remembered as a powerful orator and compassionate leader.
As India’s foreign minister, Swaraj had been quick in responding to tweets for help. She also came to the rescue of foreign nationals seeking help from Indian authorities.
In 2016, a delegation from Pakistan had come to India to participate in the Global Youth Peace Festival and had expressed concern about its safe return amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
The convenor of the delegation had reached out to Swaraj for help and she assured her that the participants, all girls, would reach home safe.
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