Even if you are stuck on the Mars, Indian Embassy will help you”, this tweet by former External Affairs Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj in 2017, who died of cardiac arrest late on Tuesday, made her twitter account a platform for Indian citizens across the globe a “helpline”.
Sushma was known for her prompt actions and helping out those who reached out to her on Twitter with their grievances. While many wrote to her in dire situations with issues related to visas and passports, several people also put forth bizarre requests on her twitter account.
Sushma, the only woman to have completed full tenure in the External Affairs Ministry, had once tweeted, “Tumhe wafa yaad nahi, Hume zafa yaad nahi. Zindagi or Maut ke do hi tarane hai, Ek tumhe yaad nahi, Ek hume yaad nahi.” The tweet epitomised her personality as a sensitive political figure.
True to her character, she was a call away for the people in distress. Her sudden demise not only cast a pall of gloom across the political spectrum, it evoked response from the people whose lives she had touched as a Minister.
Her unique style has even encouraged her predecessor Dr S Jaishankar to emulate her approach as India’s current Foreign Minister. From assuring the safe return of nurses stuck in Iraq to helping people facing several visa or travel-related issues, the Minister helped everyone who needed any assistance from the Indian Government.
Sushma’s popularity was not built merely on account of the goodwill she collected from people across borders and boundaries, it was also on the back of being an orator, firm socialist, poet and a combative parliamentarian which was in full display when she held the forte as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
As India’s External Affairs Minister, she became the most-followed woman leader in the world with over 11 million Twitter followers. In 2019 (until the time of her death), Sushmaj, who followed no one on the micro-blogging site, had over 13.1 million followers.
“When we used to have a problem in another country, we didn’t know where to go or what to do. Like other countries who had a quick response team for their citizens in other countries, we used to think when will we have such responsive and combative Minister who would resolve issues of Indian citizens in other countries. Thanks to Sushma ji who herself started resolving issues of citizens stuck aboard,” said Parikshit (32), who had come to pay tributes to the former Minister at her home.
Sushma played a major role in ‘Operation Rahat’ which was launched by Indian Armed forces to evacuate more than 4,000 Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from Yemen during the 2015 military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The 11-day evacuation by sea started on April 1, 2015 from Aden port.
A FEW TWEETS WHICH SHOW HOW SUSHMA EXTENDED HER HELP TO INDIAN CITIZENS STUCK ABROAD
Neha Parikh
Analyst Neha Agarwal Parikh with a credit rating agency tweeted to Sushma Swaraj in 2015 to get her parent out of Turkey. Sushma Swaraj was quick to help. Neha’s senior citizen parents were stuck in Istanbul for a day as her mother had misplaced her passport while returning home from their trip to Europe.
Shiv Kumar DS
Shiv lost her mom and his friend in New Jersey, USA in April 2019. He through twitter reached Sushma Swaraj and told her about delay in the process of paper filing. Swaraj acting promptly on the tweet directed consulate, which was closed on that day, to help Shiv urgently.
Abdul Masud Mallick
“I am a mother of 9 month old, our family is grieving for 8 months. My husband Abdul has been detained accidentally by China Kunming Customs. Guangzhou Consulate has knowledge about it. Please help ma’am,” Abdul’s wife Reshma wrote on Twitter. Within hours Swaraj replied “I have got the report from our Consulate General in Guangzhou. Consul Officer met your husband on 26 September 2018 and 4 March 2019. They are also in touch with his lawyer. They updated you last on 12th April, 2019. The Consulate will do their best to help him.”
Kamaljeet Pabbi
Pabbi’s father-in-law died in India’s Pataila and his wife, who lives in canada had to attend the funeral but the processing of eVisa will take 72 hours. Pabbi through tweet urged Swaraj to help them out. Despite three days holiday in Canada Swaraj immediately directed official to facilitate Pabbi’s wife visit to India.
Sandeep Kumar
In 2018, Swaraj assured assistance to a woman who said her brother Sandeep had gone to Kuwait for some office work and she later lost contact with him. The woman sought Swaraj’s help to locate her brother and shift him back to India. In reply to the tweet of the woman Swaraj said “I have asked Indian Ambassador in Kuwait to provide all assistance.”