NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’a coming out of Intensive Care Unit after a Kidney transplant was marked by another positive news – the India’s first full-fledged woman foreign minister was included in the list of 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy for fashioning a new brand of “Twitter Diplomacy”.
For company, Sushma Swaraj has Democrat US Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau among others.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also acknowledged the news with a congratulatory message. “Very proud to see our hardworking EAM Sushma Swaraj part of the Foreign Policy Global Thinkers list 2016! Congrats,” PM Modi tweeted.
The editors of the 40-year-old Foreign Policy magazine select the 100 Global Thinkers based on their standout contributions over the past year and their ability to translate ideas into action that change and shape the world.
Swaraj has earned the monikers of “the common tweeple’s leader”, “the Supermom of the State” and “the Twitter queen” for providing her ministry a human face through her twitter diplomacy. Foreign Policy magazine included her in the list “for fashioning a novel brand of Twitter diplomacy”.
One of the recent examples of her Twitter activism has been coming to rescue of 10,000 Indian workers left stranded in Saudi Arabia without food after being given pink slip by the local company. Swaraj, relentlessly pursued their evacuation and apprised people through Twitter about the steps taken to ameliorate the problems of the workers.
The 64-year-old has done it all from replacing passports, getting distant lovers together and evacuating Indians from the war zones. Her unique brand has endeared her to her 6.82 million followers, the maximum for a woman leader globally. SO much so that when she announced her renal failure on the social media, people from across the country offered their Kidneys for transplant.
Swaraj has successfully undergone a kidney transplant and came out of ICU on Tuesday. She is recuperating in AIIMS and is expected to return home in a couple of weeks. But she will be able to resume her work fully in about three month’s time.