Sushma Swaraj is not a part of PM Modi's new cabinet.
Veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has received an overwhelming response after she tweeted a "thank you" message for Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening for "all the opportunities" she was offered in the last five years when she was the foreign minister.
The 67-year-old leader is not a part of the new cabinet of PM Modi, who has been re-elected for a second term with a huge majority. On Thursday, she was seen sitting in the audience as PM Modi took oath along with 57 cabinet ministers. The cabinet portfolios were announced today.
In her tweet to PM Modi on Thursday, which has been liked over 121 thousand times and retweeted over 16,000 times, she wrote: "Prime Minister ji -- as External Affairs Minister, you have given me opportunity in the last five years to serve the countrymen and Indians abroad and accorded me a lot of respect at personal level. I am grateful to you. I pray to God that our government functions gloriously."
Ms Swaraj, a nine-time parliamentarian followed by nearly 12.8 million people on Twitter, did not contest the national elections this time. But she will remembered for her legacy as an easily-accessible foreign minister. She has helped numerous Indians in trouble who reached out to her in the last five years on the micro-blogging site.
On several instances, the senior BJP leader, who promptly responded to distress calls, also gave witty responses.
Here are the five times when Twitter sat up and took notice of her witty responses tweeted with a pinch of humour.
"Can Follow English Of All Accents"
An Indian man in Malaysia sought Ms Swaraj's help in March to get his friend back from India but his tweet had grammatical errors. After another man asked him to write to the minister in Hindi or Punjabi, Ms Swaraj replied saying: "There is no problem. After becoming Foreign Minister, I have learnt to follow English of all accents and grammar."
"Doing Chowkidari Of Indian Interests"
Ms Swaraj, who has been the second woman foreign minister after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, tweeted a witty response in March to a user who asked why she was using "Chowkidar" as a prefix for her Twitter handle. "Because I am doing Chowkidari of Indian interests and Indian nationals abroad," she had replied.
"Main Bhi Chowkidaar" (I too am a watchman) was a part of BJP's election campaign in response to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's repeated attacks: Chowkidaar chor hai.(The watchman is a thief)
The minister's reply came after she had tweeted that an Indian couple was stabbed in Germany.
Responding to another tweet when a user said that the minister "certainly" wasn't tweeting herself, and it was probably a "some PR guy" who was doing the job for her, she replied: "Rest assured - it's me, not my ghost".
"Even If You Are Stuck On Mars"
Ms Swaraj has always been prompt in replying to distress calls. However, once when a man sought her help and said he was "stuck on Mars", she gave a prompt witty response. "Even if you are stuck on the Mars, Indian Embassy there will help you."
"Brother, I Cannot Help You In Matters Of Refrigerator"
To another Twitter user who asked if she could help him with a "defective refrigerator", she wrote: "Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress."
"Media, Please Avoid The Headline..."
In 2016, when she was not able to attend the swearing-in ceremony of 19 council ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, she gave an advice to the media in a cheeky tweet that read: "Media - Pl avoid the headline : 'Sushma skips Oath Ceremony'."
The council of ministers were sworn in after a cabinet reshuffle.