The untimely demise of Sushma Swaraj must have stunned every Indian who has liberal views in politics and a humanitarian approach in the working place.
Swaraj joined politics during the ‘Emergency’ period and took oath as the youngest minister in the Government at that time. She created a distinguished political identity within the right-wing politics and remained in the pivot of politics in her forty years journey.
I analyzed some of her official tweets and retweets of 2016 (in between January-March of some selected date) that she posted as Minister of External Affairs. I observed she never responded as a minister rather as a mother. She laid the foundation of the humanitarian approach in the working style of the Ministry of External Affairs, in the Government of India.
Sushma Swaraj re-tweeted when it was required or in the capacity of Minister of External Affairs. Among the selected politicians in my study, Sushma Swaraj made the least re-tweets. The selected dates do not coincide with the re-tweets made by Swaraj. Swaraj was active on Twitter in sending humanitarian help in her official capacity.
She once tweeted in response to a call from Warsaw, Poland and asked the concerned officials to help. She replied to the tweet as “our embassy in Warsaw has informed me about the demise of Arun Ramachandran an Indian student from Kozhikode who was studying in Latvia.”
She followed the issue and tweeted that “They will send his mortal remains to his family in Kozhikode at the earliest.”
She had taken the call as being of utmost importance and immediately tweeted a response when she came to know about the demise of an Indian in Warsaw and the need of help from the authorities to send the dead body back to his parental city at the earliest.
In another tweet, she replied to a query of an anonymous person (@bmanish777) that there is no need to be in a panic and she said, our “Indian embassy in Oman has also got in touch with his employers. The embassy will provide all assistance.”
The nature of her tweets were always official and she delivered her duties of being the head in the office by helping the needy as and when required. Therefore, the study found that every tweet sent by her carried a specific message and gave direction. Unlike other re-tweets, the nature and contents of her re-tweets are completely different in orientations.
Similarly, when she was looking at a missing person in Djibouti and conveyed her grievances to an anonymous person as “Our Camp office in Djibouti is trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Father Tom Uzhunnalil so that we can secure his release.”
In another tweet, she informed in response to a query that “We closed Indian embassy in Yemen after operation RAHATwas over.” The operation RAHAT was started by Indian coastguards and navy to rescue those who were caught in the ongoing civil war in Yemen.
In another tweet, she shared her engagement with the delegations from Pakistan where she tweeted as “Bilateral after ministerial! with Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz.”
She shared photographs when she was along with other members of Pakistani delegations in an official meeting. Further, she tweeted about her next meeting with India’s most favored nation in all seasons, Maldives Foreign Minister Ms Dunya Maumoon.
She shared photographs of the meeting held between the two counterparts. The intent of such tweets was a bilateral understanding between the two nations.
The nature of Sushma Swaraj’s tweets is official and administrative and involves her directing the concerned officials to look after the concerned cases. The contents of re-tweets are simple and clear without a political touch, with the sole intent being to console the aggravated person and reduce grievances at the earliest. She uses her Twitter handle to respond to queries that people may have. Some of her re-tweets also show her humanitarian attitude.
Sourced from:
Twitter A/C from Sushma Swaraj @Sushma Swaraj March 18, 2016.
Twitter A/C from Sushma Swaraj @Sushma Swaraj March 18, 2016.
The author, Dr Shekh Moinuddin, teaches at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India