New Delhi: India's External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, who has become known for helping countless people on Twitter, has been named amongst the top 15 'Global Thinkers' by the Foreign Policy magazine.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first to reach out and wish her for being on the list along with the stalwarts like Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel and Ban Ki-Moon, among others.
Very proud to see our hardworking EAM @SushmaSwaraj part of the @ForeignPolicy Global Thinkers list 2016! Congrats. https://t.co/92H4a2drCI
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 14, 2016
Known for revolutionising the use of social media to increase public interaction, especially Twitter, she often used it to communicate and eventually solve problems of the masses in her own way. She has been known for helping people out after they had tweeted to her once.
From acquiring hospital rooms to facilitating passports to just engaging in jovial banter - her social media presence is unmissable.
One of her actions that turned many heads and incurred much appreciation all across the nation was facilitating the return of 10,000 migrant workers, who were stranded in the Gulf after being laid off. With their salaries withheld, they did not even have the money to buy food.
It was this gesture that gained Swaraj points from Foreign Policy.
The magazine noted, "In July, Sushma Swaraj, India’s external affairs minister, tweeted to roughly 6 million followers that 10,000 Indian workers employed inside the kingdom faced a “food crisis.” What followed was a weeks-long social media operation in which Swaraj posted information for migrants about rations provided by the Indian Embassy, claims for unpaid wages, and government-organized transportation home. It wasn’t the first time Swaraj had helped those abroad via computer: From evacuating Indians from Yemen to helping replace lost passports, Swaraj has earned the nickname “the common tweeple’s leader” for her aggressive use of Twitter."
While Buzzfeed called her "the most badass foreign minister on the Internet", The Washington Post titled her the "Supermom of State", and following what she has done, the nom de guerre seems to fit appropriately.
However, all has not been looking up for her. She had tweeted in November that she had to be admitted to AIIMS due to kidney failure. And some of her followers even offered to donate their own kidney, in case that was necessary.
She was released from the Intensive Care Unit of Delhi's AIIMS on Tuesday and the doctors have said that she has been recovering well. The Foreign Policy list could be the perfect homecoming gift for Swaraj.
