(Image source from: The Indian Express (Image used for representation purpose only))

The news of sudden demise of former external minister Susha Swaraj was no less than a shock for entire world and for chief Indians abroad, to whom Swaraj was source of solution for all their hitches.

The Bharatiya Janata Party veteran worked around the clock to alleviate Indian women who were abandoned by their NRI (Non-Resident Indian) husbands.  

Women from Uttar Pradesh, who had found hope for justice and comfort by Sushma Swaraj after being abandoned by their NRI husbands, were deeply disheartened after the news the of death of Sushma Swaraj came out.

“She was a completely accessible minister with a mother’s heart. I met her for a few minutes and she heard my ordeal patiently, assuring me of government’s intervention in my case,” Zuby Zaidi, a distressed woman who met Swaraj on June 11, 2017, in New Delhi, was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

According to Hindustan Times, Zaidi got married to an NRI on April 10, 2014. In the span of just two months, she received a divorce notice from her husband and since then, she has been fighting for justice incessantly. “When I met Sushma ji, I felt that she understood my pain. In her demise, I have lost a family member,” she said.

Not just Zaidi, when you go to Uttar Pradesh you find number of women who have been abandoned by their NRI husbands just after few months or days of getting married. Several of them met Sushma Swaraj when she was serving as the minister for external affairs.

Another agonized woman from Kanpur in UP was quoted by Hindustan Times, saying: “Our fight for justice is on but no one other than Sushma ji understood our pain. She was the one who listened to my story, consoled me and took action in my case.”

Another aggrieved women who met the Swaraj in March this year, said that she had assured them that the government would enact a law pertaining to NRI marriages.

“She had asked us to meet her after the Lok Sabha elections. When one of us asked Sushma ji if she would remain in the same office in the new government, she had said that she was hopeful of being able to help us out,” said a woman to Hindustan Times.

By Sowmya Sangam