Nitish Sharma & Nitin Jain
Tribune News Service
Ambala, August 7
Not only a stalwart, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was also a ‘Didi’ and ‘Bua’ for many in Ambala Cantonment, who frequented the town during Raksha Bandhan and Bhai Dhooj. Soon after the news of her demise broke out, people from Ambala Cantonment, especially those living in the BC Bazaar, started reaching at her brother’s (Dr Gulshan Sharma) residence.
Dr Dinesh Aggarwal, who has been practising just next to the house of Swaraj’s bother in Ambala Cantonment, recalled how he met her in Delhi a few years ago.
“When I reached her Delhi residence, her aides told me that she would not meet anyone. But I insisted them to just tell her that Vicky, which is my nickname, has come from Ambala. On knowing that, she immediately called me for the meeting. Her father Hardev Sharma was a famous vaid in Ambala,” Dr Aggarwal said.
Born in Palwal, she got her early education and started her political career from Ambala Cantonment. After her primary education in the Arya Samaj School, she studied in SD Kanya Mahavidyalya.
DAV School principal Ramesh Bansal, who knew her closely, said Sushma had come to be known as the most accessible minister. “This speaks of her concern for and commitment to the people.”
Those who studied with her remember her as a good student and orator.
“She was fond of taking part in debates and contests in school. I remember that she used to practise in front of mirror before participating in the the contests.
She did her graduation from the SD College and pursued law from Panjab University.
Former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was a year senior to Sushma at the Panjab University Law Department, said: "Friends since student days in 1970, we had implicit mutual respect for each other. She was a veritably admirable person, administrator and a parliamentarian par excellence. Countless admirers grieved. RIP.”
Subhash Sharma, a former Municipal Councilor in Ambala Cantonment, said “I met her when she was the External Affairs Minister. She jokingly asked her personal assistant to give special attention to me as I was a councilor of her ward, and if special attention was not given I might not help her there.”
Sunita, a BJP worker, recalls her association with Sushma Swaraj and said “My association with her was from 1977, she knew every worker by their name. She used to come for Rakshabandhan and Bhai Dooj occasionally and we were expecting her this time as well. It is a big loss for us.”
She was very religious too”, said Madhuri Sharma, a next door neighbour, who studied and lived with her till graduation.
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