Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj died on Tuesday in Delhi at the age of 67. She was taken to All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi late on Tuesday where she passed away.
The hospital has not yet issued a statement.
Swaraj had tweeted hours before her death, to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi on revoking Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave Jammu and Kashmir special rights.
Swaraj had served as the minister of external affairs in the Narendra Modi-led central government from 2014 to 2019. She was also a minister in Haryana’s Janata Party government between 1977 and 1980, and had served as the minister for information and broadcasting during the term of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government from 2000 to 2003.
Swaraj was a former chief minister of Delhi, and had served as the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014.
Last year, Swaraj, who was an MP from Vidisha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, said she would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
As the news of her death was announced, tributes poured in. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Swaraj “was a source of inspiration for crores of people”.
Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said her death has left Indian politics poorer.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described her death as monumental loss.
Also read: ‘One of her kind’: Narendra Modi, others grieve Sushma Swaraj’s death
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