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On Sushma Swaraj's birth anniversary, PM Modi shares interesting anecdote
Here's how the daughter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nephew was named ‘Sushma.’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, on the 70th birth anniversary of former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, took to Facebook to share an interesting anecdote from their earlier days in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“I'm returning from Jalandhar after today's rally. Today is also the birth anniversary of Sushma ji. I suddenly recalled a very old incident associated with her. So, thought of sharing it with you all,” PM Modi posted.
Narrating the episode, which he said, took place twenty-five years ago, Prime Minister Modi wrote that during those days, Swaraj was on a poll visit to his home state Gujarat.
“She came to my village Vadnagar, and met my mother. Around that time, my nephew became father to a girl. Astrologers decided her name. The girl's family members, too, decided they will do as the astrologers say,” he added.
The Prime Minister further noted that though his mother is not highly educated, her thinking is modern. “After meeting Sushma ji, she announced that the little girl will be named Sushma. The way my mother announced this decision, I remember that even today,” PM Modi wrote.
Swaraj, a stalwart of the BJP, passed away on August 6, 2019, aged sixty-seven, around two months after Modi was re-elected as the Prime Minister. In the first Modi government, from 2014 to 2019, she served as the minister of external affairs. S Jaishankar is the incumbent external affairs minister, and the immediate successor to the late politician.
On February 13, 2020, a day before her 68th birth anniversary, the Union government renamed two key establishments linked to India’s foreign policy--the Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra and Foreign Service Institute, both located in New Delhi--after Swaraj.
These are currently known as the Sushma Swaraj Bhawan and Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, respectively.
