On 14th August, Supreme Court lawyer and Delhi BJP secretary Bansuri Swaraj shared on X (formerly Twitter) that the statement attributed to her in the Indian Express column by Coomi Kapoor is false.
Bansuri also added that no such statement was attributed to her in journalist Nidhi Sharma’s book, as Coomi Kapoor’s column claimed.
The statement attributed to me in the article "Shell Shocked" by Coomi Kapur in @IndianExpress today is false. No such statement has been attributed to me by author Nidhi Sharma in the chapter of her book referred. @nidhi_sharma is equally surprised by what has been written!
— Bansuri Swaraj (@BansuriSwaraj) August 13, 2023
“The statement attributed to me in the article “Shell Shocked” by Coomi Kapur in Indian Express today is false. No such statement has been attributed to me by author Nidhi Sharma in the chapter of her book referred. Nidhi Sharma is equally surprised by what has been written!”, Swaraj wrote.
Coomi Kapoor’s column in Indian Express makes bizarre claims about Sushma Swaraj
In the column ‘Inside Track’ by Coomi Kapoor in Indian Express dated August 13, a bizarre claim about former External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was made.
“For instance, Bansuri Swaraj, Sushma Swaraj’s daughter, confirms the popular impression that her mother was shell-shocked when she was dropped from the Cabinet in 2019 without any advance warning. Even when she reached Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in, Swaraj was still hopeful.”
Kapoor made the claim and attributed it to Nidhi Sharma’s new book ‘Women in Indian Politics’. As per Bansuri Swaraj, Nidhi Sharma, the author whose book is cited by Coomi Kapoor, is equally shocked by the claim.
Nidhi Sharma’s book ‘She The Leader: Women In Indian Politics’ was launched on August 11. Union Minister Smriti Irani was the chief guest at the event.
Join us for the launch of my book #SheTheLeader where @smritiirani will be the Chief Guest. Launch will be followed by a discussion with @RaoKavitha, @ManishTewari and @JohnBrittas and moderated by me.
— Nidhi (@nidhi_sharma) August 11, 2023
Published by @AlephBookCo the book traces the journey of 17 women politicians pic.twitter.com/sukH0ljYg0
Sushma Swaraj’s health and her exclusion from the 2019 Modi 2.0 cabinet
Sushma Swaraj was one of the most popular leaders of the BJP. She was the EAM during the Modi 1.0 government from 2014-19. However, in 2016, she had to take a break from work for several months due to her health condition. She later underwent a kidney transplant at AIIMS in December 2016. Though she joined work later, her health gradually deteriorated.
The former MP from Vidisha Lok Sabha seat had declared that she would not contest the 2019 general elections. Though there were speculations about her deteriorating health and her absence from public life, she had appeared for the oath-taking ceremony of the new ministers in the Modi 2.0 cabinet. She also tweeted congratulating the PM and thanking him for giving her an opportunity to serve the people. The 9-time MP had always been a cabinet minister in all the previous BJP governments.
Sushma Swaraj, a fierce orator, and very popular politician, breathed her last on August 6, 2019. Her last tweet was thanking PM Modi for abrogating Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Her choice of words made people gasp in shock as she had stated that she wanted to see that day (abrogation of Article 370) during her lifetime.
How the Left and Opposition tried to politicize the demise of Manohar Parrikar too
this is not the first time the demise of a BJP leader has been used to make false, misleading, and bizarre statements to politicize the incident. Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, had lied about former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Speaking at a rally, Gandhi had claimed that Manohar Parrikar had ‘distanced himself’ from the Rafale deal because he was aware that corruption had taken place.
Earlier too, when Manohar Parrikar was critically ill, Rahul Gandhi had dropped in to pay him a visit. Even then Rahul Gandhi had used the occasion to lie about the supposed discussion he had with Parrikar about the Rafale deal. In fact, Parrikar, ailing from a serious disease himself, came out to debunk Gandhi’s false claims of having any discussion on the Rafale deal. In a scathing attack, Parrikar then asserted that stooping so low to make a false statement raises questions about the purpose of Rahul Gandhi’s visit.
