Sushma Swaraj named '2016 Global Thinker' for 'novel Twitter diplomacy', Modi among the first to congratulate

Sushma Swaraj is currently recuperating from a kidney transplant operation at the AIIMS

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been included in Foreign Policy magazine's 2016 list of 15 Global Thinkers "for fashioning a novel brand of Twitter diplomacy".

In a website posting, the magazine recalled how, when around 10,000 Indian workers in Saudi Arabia faced a "food crisis" earlier this year due to job losses, Sushma Swaraj tweeted about the issue to six million followers on the social media website.

"What followed was a weeks-long social media operation in which Swaraj posted information for migrants about rations provided by the Indian embassy, claims for unpaid wages, and government-organised transportation home," it said.

Stating that this was not the first time that Sushma Swaraj used the internet to reach out to people abroad, the posting said: "From evacuating Indians from Yemen to helping replace lost passports, Swaraj has earned the nickname 'the common tweeple's leader' for her aggressive use of Twitter."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to congratulate Sushma Swaraj for this.

"Very proud to see our hardworking EAM @SushmaSwaraj part of the @ForeignPolicy Global Thinkers list 2016! Congrats," Modi tweeted.

 Among others who are on the list are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Sushma Swaraj is currently recuperating from a kidney transplant operation at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences here.