When Sushma Swaraj intervened to help 17-year-old girl's US dream to become reality
Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who passed away at AIIMS Delhi on Tuesday night, was always known for her kind gestures during her time as external affairs minister.
In 2018, a major hurdle in the dream of a 17- year-old girl to pursue her higher education in the USA was cleared after Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj intervened to facilitate in getting her visa confirmed from the US Embassy.
Bhanupriya Haritwal of Jalalpur village, who was one of the three girls given a Rs 1 crore scholarship by the Rajasthan government to study abroad for securing a rank in the Class 10 state borad exams in 2015.
She had secured second rank in the examination following which she got the scholarship for the four-year course. However, Haritwal, whose father Sohan Lal is a teacher at a private college in Sikar district, had applied for the visa, but the application was rejected twice by the embassy.
Sikar MP Swami Sumedhanand said, "The girl had cleared the internal test conducted by the California State University and then applied for the visa. But, it was rejected twice by the US Embassy. The family had approached me, and I took up the case with the external affairs minister who helped her securing the visa."
Haritwal after clearing her class 12 board exam had secured good scores in SAT and IELTS to secure admission at the California State University.
It was one of those gestures that earned Sushma Swaraj praise from around the country.
The BJP veteran, who suffered a massive heart attack, died at the age of 67. PM Narendra Modi, BJP Working President JP Nadda and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan paid their last respects to former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj at latter's residence in the national capital.
(With inputs from PTI)