Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid heartfelt tributes to former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on her birth anniversary and recalled her association with his mother.
In a Facebook post today, the Prime Minister said, "Right now I am returning from Jalandhar after carrying out a rally. Today is Sushma ji's birth anniversary. I suddenly remembered an old incident related to her, so thought I would share it with you."
"About 25 years ago, I used to work at an organization in the BJP and Sushma ji was on an election tour in Gujarat. In my village in Vadnagar, she came and met my mother. At that time, a daughter was born in our family to my nephew. Astrologers found her name after seeing the constellation and then a name was decided. The family members had also decided that they will do as they are saying," the Prime Minister said.
"But after meeting Sushma ji, my mother said that the daughter's would be named Sushma. My mother is not very educated but she is very modern in thoughts. And the way she pronounced the decision to everyone at that time, that too I remember till today. Tributes to Sushma ji on her birth anniversary today," the Prime Minister posted on Facebook today.
Born on February 14, 1952 at Ambala in Haryana, Sushma Swaraj graduated from Sanatan Dharma College, Ambala Cantt. and obtained Bachelor of Law degree from Punjab University, Chandigarh. She was also conferred Honorary Doctorate by the Agriculture University, Kanpur. In 1973, she started practice as an advocate in the Supreme Court of India.
Sushma Swaraj entered public life at a young age and won election to the Haryana Legislative Assembly at the age of 25 years in 1977 and became Cabinet Minister for Labour and Employment in the State Government of Haryana. She was again elected as a member of Haryana Legislative Assembly and became the Cabinet Minister for Education, Food and Civil Supplies during the period 1987 to 1990.
In 1990, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha and in 1996, as a member of the 11th Lok Sabha when she became the Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting. In 1998, she was again elected to the 12th Lok Sabha and held the portfolio of Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting and also for Telecommunications as an additional charge. In October, 1998, she became the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi.
Thereafter, in April, 2000, she was again elected to the Rajya Sabha and became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting from September, 2000 to January 2003 and then the Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs from January 2003 to May 2004. In April, 2006, she was re-elected to Rajya Sabha. In 2009, she was elected as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha and became Leader of Opposition from December 2009 to May 2014. In 2014, she was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha. She served as Union Cabinet Minister for External Affairs from May 2014 till May, 2019.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor