Against the backdrop of India’s growing global stature and the shifting geopolitical landscape, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has broken a ceiling of sorts by becoming the first foreign minister of the country in the last three decades.
Swaraj, who was sworn in as a Cabinet minister at a glittering ceremony at the presidential palace in Delhi, will take charge of the foreign office in South Block May 27.
This is the first time India will have a female foreign minister as well as female foreign secretary at the same time. Women power shines through in the newly-inducted cabinet of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which boasts of seven female ministers.
Indira Gandhi, India’s then prime minister, was the last female foreign minister of India and briefly held the portfolio of external affairs ministry between March 9, 1984 and October 31, 1984.
Immediately after taking charge, the 62-year-old Swaraj accompanied India’s new prime minister Narendra Modi during delegation-level talks with the leaders of South Asian countries, including the prime minister of Pakistan. In her decades-long political career, Swaraj, a former advocate, has many firsts to her credit: she became the youngest ever Cabinet Minister in the country when she was barely 25 years old in 1977. Swaraj was the first female spokesperson of a national political party in India. She also has the distinction of being the first female leader of the opposition in parliament.
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