Early Life and Education

Journey of Sushma Swaraj: She was born on 14 February 1953 at Ambala Cantt, Haryana. Her Father’s Name was Hardev Sharma and Mother’s Name was Shrimati Laxmi Devi. Her father was a pre-eminent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member. Her parents acclaimed from Dharampura area of Lahore, Pakistan. She was educated at Sanatan Dharma College in Ambala Cantonment and earned a bachelor's degree with subjects like Sanskrit and Political Science. She studied law at Panjab University, Chandigarh. She wons state-level competition held by the Language Department of Haryana for the best Hindi Speaker award for three consecutive years.

Personal life

On 13 July 1975 (At the times of the Emergency), Sushma Swaraj married Swaraj Kaushal, a peer and fellow advocate at the Supreme Court of India. This Emergency movement brought together the couple, who then teamed up for the defence of the socialist leader George Fernandes. Swaraj Kaushal, a senior advocate of Supreme Court of India and a criminal lawyer, also served as Governor of Mizoram from 1990 to 1993. At that time Swaraj Kaushal was the member of parliament from 1998 to 2004.

The couple has a daughter, Bansuri, who is a graduate from Oxford University and a Barrister at Law from Inner Temple.

Sushma Swaraj's sister Vandana Sharma is an associate professor of political science in a government college for girls in Haryana. Her brother Dr Gulshan Sharma is an Ayurveda doctor based in Ambala.

On 10 December 2016, she underwent a kidney transplant at AIIMS, Delhi with the organ being harvested from a living unrelated donor. The surgery was successful.

Career

After the completion of Law in 1973, Sushma started practice as an advocate in the Supreme Court of India. She began her political career with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the 1970s. Her husband, Swaraj Kaushal, was closely associated with the socialist leader George Fernandes and Sushma Swaraj became a part of George Fernandes's legal defence team in the year 1975. She actively strived in Jayaprakash Narayan's Total Revolution Movement. After the Emergency, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Later, she became a national leader of BJP.

Sushma Swaraj had served four terms in the Lok Sabha, she represented South Delhi and Vidisha twice each in the Lok Sabha. Swaraj was also elected as a Rajya Sabha leader thrice. Apart from her famous external minister tenure, she famously contested against Congress leader Sonia Gandhi from Bellary in September 1999.

Sushma Swaraj: Education and Early days of Politics

  • Sushma Swaraj earned a bachelor’s degree with majors in Sanskrit and Political Science from Sanatan Dharma College in Ambala Cantonment, Haryana. 
  • After that, she got admission in Punjab University for a law degree. She had also won the best Hindi Speaker award for three consecutive years in the competition organized by the Language Department of Haryana.
  • In the year 1973, she started practising law as an advocate in the Supreme Court of India. However, she started her political career with ABVP in the 1970s.
  • Swaraj dynamically participated in JP Movement and later, after the emergency, she joined the Bhartiya Janta Party.
  • At the age of 25, she became a member of Haryana legislative assembly from 1977 to 1982 and 1987 to 1990.
  • She became a state Cabinet Minister in the Janta Party, on July 1977, under leadership of then Chief Minister Devi Lal.
  • From 1987 to 1990, she was holding the post of Education Minister of Haryana state in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Lok Dal.

Sushma Swaraj as Chief Minister of Delhi

Sushma Swaraj was elected as a member of the Parliament in 1996 from South Delhi Constituency but she resigned and became the first female chief minister of Delhi on October 13, 1998. Sushma Swaraj resigned from the post of a union cabinet minister to take over as the Delhi CM. However, her tenure as Delhi’s chief minister was very short (53 days), she had to resign from the post on December 03, 1998.

Sushma Swaraj as I&B Minister

Sushma Swaraj was elected from South Delhi Parliamentary constituency for the second term in March 1998. She was sworn in as Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ministry under the second term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government. She held the post from 19 March 1998 to 12 October 1998. During her short tenure as I&B Minister, she has taken a remarkable decision of declaring film production as an industry.

Sushma Swaraj as Union Health Minister

Sushma Swaraj was appointed as Minister of Health, Family Planning and Parliamentary Affairs on January 2003. She remained in the post until May 2004 when NDA government lost the general elections.

Sushma Swaraj as Foreign Minister

From May 2014 to May 2019 Sushma Swaraj had served as Minister of External Affairs under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sushma Swaraj was only the second woman leader to hold this position after Indira Gandhi.

Death

On 6 August 2019, Sushma Swaraj suddenly suffered a cardiac heart attack in the evening after which she was rushed to AIIMS Delhi, where she died. This news has led everyone shocked because Swaraj was the Veteran not only for BJP but for our Nation also. Her oratory, involvement in work and her subtle class of politics will always be remembered.