GEETHA PATIL
BOSTON: The convener and co-convener of Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), New England and Boston, Abhishek Singh and Supreet Subbaraya, held a Shraddhanjali Sabha August 10 at Flerra Meadows in Boxborough, Massachusetts, to pay tribute to former Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who passed away in New Delhi August 6.
A large number of community members, including players from the New England area who came to play for the Freedom Cup 2019 organized by the Telangana Society, gathered to pay tribute to Sushma Swaraj.
The death of the popular BJP leader triggered a wave of shock and grief to the Indians and non-Indians all over the world. At the age of 25 in 1977, she became the youngest cabinet minister in the Indian state of Haryana. She also served as Chief Minister of Delhi for a short duration in 1998.
She was a minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet from 2014 to 2019 and served her fourth term in Lok Sabha, but she was much more than that for the common man and was respected across party lines for her excellent talent, public services and speeches. Swaraj was aptly hailed as ‘supermom’ of India by The Washington Post for solving the problems of distressed Indians around the world.
People admired her for rare empathy and a human approach to India’s diplomacy. She encouraged overseas Indians to approach Indian missions by saying, “Indian Embassy is your home away from home. Whenever in trouble, please contact the Indian Embassy/Consulate. They will help you.”
The August 10 program started with offering of flowers to the portrait of Sushma Swaraj by Shatrughna Sinha, Deputy Consul General, New York, Bal Ram Singh, Chairman, Executive Board of the Boston Center for Excellence for Health and Human Development, and Subu Kota, founder and CEO of the Boston Group USA and other members of the OFBJP and volleyball team leads.
It was followed by observing one minute of silence by all and singing of national anthems of India and the US.All the guests remembered the remarkable services of Sushma Swaraj and said that she left behind a legacy of being a responsive minister who became a source of encouragement for Indian politicians.
