New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned emotional on Wednesday morning as he paid his tribute to Sushma Swaraj, former foreign minister and BJP veteran, who died after a cardiac arrest on Tuesday evening. She was 67.
Remembering the veteran politician, PM Modi in a tweet on Tuesday night said a “glorious chapter in Indian politics has come to an end”, NDTV reported.
Swaraj will be cremated with state honour on Wednesday afternoon, according to the NDTV report. Her body will be kept at the BJP headquarters in Delhi from noon till 3 pm for party workers and leaders to pay tributes.
After this, the body will be taken to the Lodhi Road crematorium for the last rites. PM Modi is expected to attend her funeral.
Political leaders across party lines as well as people on social media expressed shock and grief at her sudden death. President Ram Nath Kovind visited Swaraj’s home at central Delhi’s Jantar Mantar Road to pay his tribute. He interacted with her husband Swaraj Kaushal and other family members. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too paid his last respects.
Among other VIPs who visited Swaraj’s home, where her body was taken from the hospital, was BSP chief Mayawati, former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and yoga guru Ramdev.
Swaraj was one of the most senior woman leader of the BJP. She leaves a legacy of an easily-accessible politician who helped the Indians abroad in distress with her quick response on Twitter to requests for help when she was the foreign minister. Even banal or joking requests drew a response from the former minister.
The 67-year-old had not been keeping well lately, which is why she had not contested the Lok Sabha election earlier this year and opted out of PM Modi’s new government. She had a kidney transplant in 2016.
