Sushma Swaraj cremated with state honours, daughter Bansuri performs last rites

Former External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj was cremated with full state honours at Lodhi crematorium here on Wednesday.

Sushma's last rites were performed by her daughter Bansuri Swaraj, as her husband Swaraj Kaushal stood beside his daughter.

Several politicians from various parties and foreign dignitaries attended the last rites of the late BJP leader. Those in attendance included - Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, working BJP president JP Nadda, Nitin Gadkari, Lal Krishna Advani, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Congress leader Anand Sharma, among others.

Former Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay was also present.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, veteran BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, Prime Minister Modi, Venkaiah Naidu and several other dignitaries paid floral tributes to the late BJP leader.

Earlier, Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and other BJP leaders lent shoulders to the mortal remains of Swaraj as they were being taken from BJP headquarters to Lodhi crematorium in Delhi.

Draped in tricolour, her body was kept at the BJP headquarters for public homage.

Swaraj breathed her last on Tuesday night at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after suffering a cardiac arrest.

According to sources at AIIMS, the 67-year-old was feeling restless at 9 pm and she was brought to the hospital at around 9:30 pm in an ambulance. She was declared dead at 10:50 pm.

Swaraj was the foreign minister in the first term of the Modi government in 2014. She opted out of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections citing ill health.