Former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj was consigned to flames on Wednesday at Lodhi Road crematorium as BJP supporters and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and veteran party leader LK Advani bid her a tearful farewell.
Sushma’s daughter Bansuri Swaraj performed the last rites before the mortal remains of the popular BJP leader was wheeled into the furnace of the electric crematorium with full State honours amid sounding of the ceremonial bugle and chanting of Vedic mantras.
Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, several leaders from the NDA as well leaders of the Opposition, were present. Modi was seen comforting Sushma’s husband Swaraj Kasushal and daughter Bansuri.
The body of the former Minister — one of India’s most high-profile woman politicians who brought a rare empathy and a human approach to India’s diplomacy — which was wrapped in a Tricolour was brought to the crematorium around 3.30 pm from the BJP headquarters, where it was kept for a few hours for people to pay tributes to the departed soul whose sudden demise due to cardiac arrest at AIIMS late on Tuesday left the nation in a state of grief.
People from multiple faiths converged at the crematorium and many came from as far as Bihar and Madhya Pradesh to pay homage to Sushma.
National president of Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind Maulana Suhaib Qasmi, who also visited the cremation ground with his supporters, said Sushma’s death is a not only a loss for the party but for the whole country. “During her tenure as a Foreign Minister, she without any hesitation had helped several distressed Diaspora, whether it was in the USA, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Iraq or Yemen. I had once travelled with her to Yemen. She raised India’s stature as the External Affairs Minister and her sudden demise is a great to shock to me and the nation,” he said.
Besides political bigwigs, hundreds of party supporters and commoners were seen on the roads leading to cremation ground.
Shivhari Shastri, a party worker and resident of Lajpat Nagar, said, “We have lost a great leader and administration. She was an orator who is known for her clear and bold stand on every issue related to the nation,” he said, adding that she started a new trend by helping Indian stuck across the world.
Veena Sharma, a resident of Vrindavan and BJP president of Mahila Morcha, said Sushma was an inspiration for all those women who want to make politics their career.
“I met her a few years ago in Delhi. She listened to me very carefully and offered help also. Most importantly, she was very emotional and grounded leader who could feel the pain of others. Who can forget her speech in Parliament? We will keep being inspired from her in future also,” Sharma said.
Sanjay Shastri, a party worker from Uttar Pradesh, said, “I have no word to explain my feelings. It is the great loss to the nation. I saw her last tweet just after Parliament abrogated controversial Article 370, in which she wrote saying that she was alive to witness the day. Who knows it will be her last tweet,” he said.
Prime minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP national President Amit Shah, veteran party leader L K Advani, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union ministers Rajnath Singh Harsh Vardhan and Ashwini Kumar Choubey, BJP working president J P Nadda, and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi bade her an emotional farewell.
Senior Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also attended the funeral.