Key milestones in Sushma Swaraj's political career

During her tenure as Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting in 1998, she legitimised the film industry, making it eligible for loans from financial institutions.

In 1977, under the leadership of former chief minister Devi Lal, the 25-year- old Swaraj was appointed as the youngest cabinet minister of India.

Swaraj was the first female spokesperson of any national political party in 1979.

Swaraj  was elected as the first female chief minister of Delhi. She served  a  short stint as chief minister of the state from October 13, 1998 to December 3, 1998.

Swaraj gave a tough fight to Sonia Gandhi during the lok sabha election in 1999. Both leaders contested from the Bellary constituency of Karnataka, where the former managed to bag 358,000 votes in just 12 days of her campaign in the region. She lost by a margin of 7%.

Swaraj laid the foundation of 6 AIIMS hospitals at Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh during her tenure as Union Health Minister (2003-04).

She was honored with the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2004. She was elected seven times as the member of Parliament and three times as a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Swaraj bagged the prestigious External Affairs portfolio under the Modi government. She was the second woman to take charge of this ministry after Indira Gandhi.

The operation Rahat was a great success under her leadership. This  operation was carried out during Yemen Crisis, where India provided help to prominent countries like United States, Russia, United Kingdom and Pakistan.

Her Twitter follower count crossed the 13 million thresholds, making Swaraj world's most followed woman leader on Twitter, and of course the most followed foreign minister according to 'Twiplomacy 2018' report.

She became the first Indian to address the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting as the guest of honour in March 2019.