Sushma Swaraj: The Diplomat Politician

One of the prominent Female Leaders of India. She was a lawyer, Politician and Diplomat. Held several offices and earned appreciation for her work From Citizens. She was Awarded Padma Vibhushan posthumously in 2020 for her work in the field of Public affairs.

Sushma swaraj Biography

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

She was Born on 14 February 1952 at Punjab Cantt., Punjab now haryana. Her Father Hardev Sharma was an RSS member and mother, a homemaker. She has two siblings named Vandana Sharma and Gulsan Sharma. She was educated at Sanatan Dharma college where she did her bachelor’s with Sanskrit and Political Science.  Later, she completed law from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Her family originally belonged to the Dharampura area in Lahore (Now in Pakistan).

CAREER AS AN ADVOCATE AND A POLITICAL LEADER 

She began her career as an advocate in 1973 at the supreme court of India. She was associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Swaraj became a part of George Fernandes's legal defence team in 1975. She participated in various movements like Jayaprakash Narayan’s Total Revolution Movement. After the Infamous Emergency, Swaraj became a part of Bharatiya Janata party(BJP) 

She Began her Political career in 1977 after contesting election from Ambala constituency. She won the seat at the age of 25 and then became a member of haryana legislative assembly. She was a cabinet member and held the office of Labour and Employment. In 1987, she continued to win the ambala constituency seat and now she held the office of education, Food and civil Supplies. 

In 1990, she was elected to Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the parliament). In 1996, she was elected to Lok sabha from south delhi constituency.  She was the union minister of information and broadcasting. In 1998, Elected to the rajya sabha as union Minister for I&b and Telecommunications after being nominated. 

In 1998, she was appointed as the CM of Delhi for a short period. She was the 5th CM of Delhi. She was the first female CM of Delhi. She resigned later on. She was reelected to the Rajya Sabha as the Minister for I&b and Telecommunications in 2000. As a minister her contributions are instrumental in Declaring film production as an industry which could be financed. 

In 2003 she was the minister of health, family welfare and parliamentary affairs. From January 2003 to May 2004. 

In 2009, She was elected to Lok Sabha as the leader of opposition from the vidisha constituency in madhya pradesh and continued her tenure till may 2014.

AS A FOREIGN MINISTER 

After the Mass victory of BJP in the General election of 2014, She became a cabinet minister. She held the office of ministry of external affairs under the reign of the PM Narendra Modi. 
The tenure started in May 2014 and ended in May 2019. She was the second woman to hold this position. She was credited with planning out the foreign policy of India. 

Her key contributions as Foreign minister: 

• Operation Raahat (2015) - Evacuation of 4,000 Indian and 1900 foreigners from War stricken Yemen.
• Twitter as a helpline - She responded quickly to the ones with passport, visas, medical emergencies on the social media, which made her popular among the people. 
• Reestablishing Gulf Relations- She worked towards rebuilding relations with Countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman etc. 
• Passport Seva Reform- Increasing the number of Passport seva kendra across India. 
• Rescue Missions- In Iraq, Libya, Nepal (earthquake) and other conflict zones. 
• Strong UN Presence- Firm stance on Terrorism and Global peace at UNGA 
• Humanitarian approach- Granting immediate visas for people seeking medical emergencies in the neighbouring countries
• Global Outreach and Diplomacy- India got recognition for its revised foreign policy and actions towards maintaining peace. Foreign ministry has kept close ties with indian diaspora

PERSONAL LIFE

She married Swaraj Kaushal, a peer and fellow advocate at the supreme court of india on 13 July 1975. Her husband was the governor of Mizoram from 1990 to 1993. The couple has a daughter bansuri swaraj, educated at oxford university and Currently elected at Lok sabha from New Delhi Constituency. 
In 2015, she went under a kidney transplant but continued her position. 
Her deteriorating health refrained her from politics later on. 
Swaraj took her last breath on 6th August 2025 After suffering from cardiac arrest.