10 times Swaraj intervened to help Indians in trouble

Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who brought the elite corridors of diplomacy to the aid of the common man, breathed her last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here on Tuesday night. She was 67.

Known to be an active Twitterati and an excellent orator who could enthral a large crowd, Sushma Swaraj always reached out to those who asked for her help, during her tenure as the External Affairs Minister. Her ability to take prompt action and help anyone in need gave the image of the Ministry of External Affairs a massive boost, and she came to be known as the minister who was easily accessible in the hour of distress.

Here are some of the instances where she responded to the calls for help.

In October 2017, a Pakistani woman named Hira Ahmed appealed to Sushma Swaraj to approve the pending medical visa request of her one-year-old daughter for her open heart surgery and the External Affairs Minister immediately obliged.

On May 30, 2015, a woman named Neha Parikh tweeted to the then EAM Sushma Swaraj to get her parents out of Turkey. Neha's parents were stuck in Istanbul as her mother had misplaced her passport while returning home from their trip to Europe.

Sushma Swaraj responded promptly.

In 2016, Sushma Swaraj took note of the plight of Jagannathan Selvaraj, who walked 1,000 km in two years to attend labour court proceedings in Dubai after he was denied the permission to go back to India to attend his mother's funeral.

Within a few days, Selvaraj returned to India.

In 2017, Sushma Swaraj assured all possible help to an Indian student admitted in a hospital in Georgia, US. She responded on Twitter to pleas from the student's sister.

She replied,

She further tweeted, "Her visa has expired. I have asked the Indian Embassy to get her visa extended. Indian Embassy will extend all possible help."

In 2018, she helped Isha, a girl belonging to an underprivileged community in Delhi's Sangam Vihar, to resolve her visa issues.

She responded within two hours.

In 2018, Sushma Swaraj helped a woman to find her brother who had gone to Kuwait for some office work and she later lost contact with him.

In May 2019, five Indian sailors were abducted by pirates in Nigeria and the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked the Indian high commissioner there to take up the matter at the highest levels of the Nigerian government to ensure their release. She also asked Abhay Thakur, Indian Ambassador in Nigeria to look into the matter and send her a report.

In April 2019, Darshan Senthil, a Biomedical engineering student wanted to return to India from the US. He applied for an Irish visa, which faced some complications and he asked Sushma Swaraj for help. She immediately asked the Indian Embassy in the US to help the troubled student.

On April 2019, civil war broke out in Libya between the Libya National Army and the pro-GNA militias, leaving many Indians stranded in the country amid a volatile situation. Sushma Swara reached out to help them by implementing some measures.

After the explosions in Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019, Sushma Swaraj took to twitter to share the helpline numbers and assure of every assistance to the distressed and panic-stricken Indians in the Island nation.

On April 2019, a woman asked Sushma Swaraj for help over her husband's distress. He was stranded in Guinea with his passport confiscated for more than one month. Sushma Swaraj asked Y.K. Sailas Thangal, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cote d‘ Ivoire, to look into the matter and assured the woman that she has asked for a report from the Ambassador.