Bihar native Keshav Kumar, who works in Delhi, took a leave from office on Wednesday, so he could attend the funeral of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, such was the appeal of her personality.
People from multiple faiths converged at the crematorium, and many came from as far as Madhya Pradesh to pay homage to Swaraj.
Kumar, 23, who hails from Bhagalpur, offered prayers at the gate of the electric crematorium on Lodhi Road after Swaraj was cremated with full state honours.
"I never met her, but had seen her speak on television channels, read about her in newspapers, her foreign policy. Swaraj ji's personality had left a big impression on me. I just had to be here, so I took an off from work today," he told PTI.
Keshav said he also visited the BJP headquarters, where her mortal remains were kept for a few hours for people to pay their respects, before being taken to the crematorium in a ceremonial hearse.
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Swaraj died at AIIMS here late Tuesday night at the age of 67 after suffering a massive heart attack, plunging the country in a state of grief and sparking an outpouring of condolences from across the world.
At the crematorium, young and old, men and women, and people cutting across party lines and belonging to different religions converged to pay their respects to the BJP stalwart, whose persona had endeared her to people.
National president of Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind Molana Suhaib Qasmi, who came with a group of people from Nizamuddin area, said, "Her death is a big loss for the party, and the country."
"As a foreign minister, she had helped so many distressed diaspora people, whether it was in Saudi Arabia or Iraq or Yemen. I had once travelled with her to Yemen. She raised India's stature as the external affairs minister. We are shocked by her death," he said.
Besides, politicians, people from other fields also fondly remembered Swaraj.
Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi said he had the priviledge of knowing Swaraj and had long discussions with her on poetry, since she loved poetry.
"I was very fortunate that I sat with her for hours discussing poetry. She was someone who was open to new ideas and open to learning. She had this quality to be childlike and listen to you. Leaders like her are rare and everyone will miss her. A lot of my work which the world has not heard she had heard it," he recalled.
Censor Board member Vani Tripathi Tikoo said Swaraj was "like more than a mother" to her and she was at a loss of words when she met her husband Swaraj Kaushal and daughter Bansuri at the Lodhi Road crematorium.
"She had put me on a committee, very interestingly titled, 'Influence of Hindi in taking Hindi Cinema on a global stage' when she was the external affairs minister. She took me and Prasoon ji to the World Hindi Conference," Tikoo told PTI.
She said she was so gutted after hearing the news and had flown in on Wednesday from Mumbai.
Fashion designer Ritu Beri said Swaraj would always call her, her 'second daughter'.
"She was very compassionate. Everyone was so shocked by her death. It was so untimely. She was a mother-like figure for many. About a week ago, I had spoken to her, since I wanted to go and see her, but sadly I will never meet her again. Such is life," she said.
At the crematorium, a woman slipped five pieces of sandalwood near the electric crematorium, and went back with tears in her eyes.
As a foreign minister, Swaraj brought a rare empathy and a human approach to India's diplomacy.
Soft-spoken, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh in 2009 and 2014, and also represented the state in the Rajya Sabha once.
In her first term from Vidisha, Swaraj served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha between 2009-14.
After winning in 2014, Swaraj went on to become the External Affairs Minister in the first term of the Narendra Modi government.
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