Draped in the saree once worn by her mother, former Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, BJP’s youngest candidate for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Bansuri Swaraj, said the scent lingering from it transports her to a comforting embrace, evoking fond memories of her mother’s aanchal as she begins the campaign trail.
Bansuri grew up in Delhi and said she is a ‘dadi nani ke haathon se khilaya bachcha’ (fed with the hands of maternal and paternal grandmothers). “My friends and teachers kept me grounded throughout. Both my parents ensured that I have a very normal upbringing,” said Bansuri, who grew up in a family of politicians and lawyers.
The fierce leader, with the oratory skills of her mother, lights up the brightest when she talks about her ‘co-conspirator’ and her ‘favourite human being in the world’.
Calling her mother’s loss irreparable, she said, “I wish my mother was here for my life. No matter what age you lose your parents, it’s never enough time. And I’ll be honest, I don’t miss Sushma Swaraj ‘the neta’. I miss Sushma Swaraj, the mother. For me, she was always a mom. She was a Minister outside the house.”
Bansuri shared her mother’s anecdote about the combination of sarees and sports shoes. “Meri ma kehti thi agar ek nari saree k neeche sports shoe pehn le, then she means business. (My mother used to say if a woman wears sports shoes beneath a saree, she means business). These sarees that I wear are actually my mother’s. It’s literally like being wrapped in her ‘anchal’,” she said.
An Oxford educated lawyer, Bansuri marked her 17th year as a litigator. She describes herself as ‘innately a lawyer’ and ‘not a politician’. However, when asked the reason to leave her illustrious career, which includes being the Additional Advocate General for Haryana and enter the political fray as BJP’s candidate on the New Delhi seat, she quipped,
“To be very honest, I was given my marching orders (from the party) and I marched.’’
She believes that politics gives her a tool to amplify what she was doing as a lawyer. “In litigation, you end up making a difference to somebody’s life on a daily basis. But you’re making that difference to an individual’s life, or to a family’s life. Politics gives you the tool to actually amplify that benefit,’’ she said.
Bansuri, who is making her debut this time, said the strength she finds to campaign all day long is fuelled by the ‘’love and adoration people have towards Narendra Modi and towards his vision for of a better Bharat.’’
She described her party’s campaign as ‘positive’ and one that is not about the ‘detriment of anybody’ while calling ‘Modi the epitome of promise fulfilment’.
‘’Whether it is abrogation of Article 370, or bringing 33 per cent reservation in favour of women by passing of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, or bringing CAA, or construction of Ram Mandir, everything enunciated in our manifesto has already been fulfilled.
‘’And on the other hand, there is a vision of a Viksit Bharat, a developed Bharat, which has been articulated by Prime Minister Modi. And he has already started working towards it,’’ Bansuri said.
While describing the issues of general elections 2024 this time to be Bharat pervasive, Bansuri asserted that the Modi Government has a decade worth of work which they, as MPs, are taking forward to the people, putting a report card in front of the voters, which in turn will help people to decide to vote for them.
Expressing pride on Modi leveraging technology and uplifting women from every sphere of life, she dwelled on policies like ‘Namo Drone Didi’. “We talk about the rural economy. There is a tectonic shift in psychology when you see a Namo Drone Didi as a drone pilot contributing to the agrarian economy. Modi is talking about the empowerment of the nation under the leadership of women. That’s why he’s coined the term of women-led development, youth-led development,” she said.
On how she will approach the young female voters in her constituency, who are at large more aware and exposed to different ideas, she elaborated on a big chunk of beneficiaries under Mudra Yojana and PM Jan Dhan Yojana being women. “They’re aware that Modi ki guarantee hai that in the next Modi 3.0, India’s economy is going to actually become third largest in the world,” said Bansuri, adding that these policies will help new female voters decide.
She called women the ‘sculptors of the destiny of India’ and said even though the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will be implemented in 2029, two of the seven candidates of the BJP in the national Capital are women. Bansuri claimed that the Modi administration has the largest number of women Ministers ever sharing bonhomie for her party’s candidate fielded from West Delhi Kamaljeet Sehrawat.
The saffron party is vying to win all seven seats in Delhi where it has fielded six new faces.
