Govt pays tribute to Sushma Swaraj; renames two institutions after her

The Government on Thursday renamed the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra and Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi after late Sushma Swaraj, who served as External Affairs Minister from 2014.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced the renaming of the two institutions as a “solemn tribute” to his predecessor on the eve of her birth anniversary.

Swaraj, who passed away on August 6 last year, would have turned 68 on Friday.

“Glad to announce that the Government has decided to rename Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan and Foreign Service Institute as Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service,” Jaishankar posted on Twitter on Thursday. “A fitting tribute to a great public figure who continues to inspire us.”

Swaraj was the External Affairs Minister of India during the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government from 2014 to 2019. She was very active and popular on social media during her tenure as External Affairs Minister, helping out people, who landed in trouble during visits to foreign countries.

Modi replaced her with Jaishankar at the beginning of the second term of his government.

Prime Minister had inaugurated the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra on October 2, 2016. The Foreign Service Institute had come into existence in 1986.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that the renaming of Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra and the Foreign Service Institute was a “solemn tribute” to the “invaluable contribution” of Swaraj to “Indian diplomacy, the cause of the Indian diaspora and the ethos of public service”.