NEW DELHI: In the demise of BJP stalwart Sushma Swaraj, a crestfallen Uzma Ahmed was left bereaved of a ‘mother’ who famously gave her the sobriquet of ‘Daughter of India’ two years ago.
“People like her will never walk on this earth again… I have lost my mother,” Uzma said as she tried to regain composure while recollecting the personal efforts which Swaraj made to facilitate her safe return from Pakistan.
“When I met her for the first time and many times after, it never felt that I was meeting a minister and a big leader. She was like a family member, always helping and pushing us harder to do better (in life). Even when she offered a job at her office and I said that it would be very difficult for me, she gave me ideas about setting up my own business. I requested her to visit me at the saloon,” said Uzma, who was present at Lodhi crematorium.
True to her reputation as a minister accessible to the people in distress, Swaraj had reached out to Uzma when she needed her most.
Uzma’s story of how she fell in love with a Pakistani national in Malaysia, tricked into a forced marriage and her meeting with officials of the Indian High Commission are well known.
What now remains etched in the people’s mind is the emotional meeting of Swaraj, the then foreign minister, with Uzma and her family members at Jawahar Bhavan.
“When I heard about her demise, I did not believe it but later on I realised that it is true. My heart broke on realising this. The entire country is feeling the pain, the loss, the gap she has left behind in the politics and humanity, in general,” Uzma said. “People are saying that they have lost a daughter, but today I lost my mother.”