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How Sushma Swaraj Actually Cared For Indians And Became A Role Model For All Ministers

byVinay Devnath
14th February 2017
3 minute read

Today, if an Indian abroad feels safe and has complete faith in the Indian Government, it is because of Mrs. Sushma Swaraj.

She has changed the whole idea of what an External Affairs Minister is capable of. Honestly speaking, we were quite ignorant of what the MEA really did except for providing passports and processing visa applications.

But Sushma Swaraj is very familiar with the concept of breaking the conventions.

She did a double major in her bachelor’s degree in both Political Science and Sanskrit and then went to do her LLB in Chandigarh.

Her oratory skills might be admired today but she was a talented speaker even during her student days when she was awarded the best Hindi Speaker award for three consecutive years!

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Later she would become the first female Chief Minister of Delhi, and also the first female CM from the BJP party. She is the second woman to take on the role of External Affairs Minister; the first being Indira Gandhi.

And at the age of 25, she was the youngest cabinet minister to be elected to the parliament. She broke the glass ceiling way back in 1977.

But all these achievements are because of her personal hard work. She excelled as a foreign minister and cared for the citizens like we are not used to. Here is how she changed the way MEA performs –

She is extremely proactive on Twitter. Gone are the days you wrote to the Ministry and waited. Sushma Swaraj has shown what a social media savvy politician can do for the people.

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And that too quickly. Instead of waiting for people in trouble to call and go through the appropriate channel, she has taken it upon herself to see what’s wrong, and THEN take the action through the appropriate channels.

 

She streamlined the whole passport verification process and even removed the lengthy and notorious police verification process.

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How many of us were seriously pissed off with the whole police verification bullshit? Bribing them and if you can’t wait for eons. The whole procedure went out of the window if you just had a valid Aadhar card.

The whole application process became smoother.

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Even when she was in an ailing condition admitted for a kidney transplant, she did not stop from helping people on social media.

She went ahead and helped many people who asked for it on Twitter.

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She brought home Indians who could not afford to come back. That means their flight tickets were paid for by the government.

This was something unheard of by Indian citizens.

 

She has a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to her department. Any allegations of corruption are met with swift action.

This happened to an Indian woman who was stuck in Tanzania and was asked bribe to get her out. Sushma Swaraj took action, got her out and took action against the erring officer.

And in the end, she remains humble and caring and takes no personal credit for her good work.

One Twitter user thanked her for her services and she responded in the following fashion.

Thank you for your services ma’am, and a very happy birthday!

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