New Delhi : The new External Affairs Minister (EAM), Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, has tweeted his homage to Sushma Swaraj, after taking charge of his Ministry today.
In his first tweet, the newly appointed Minister wrote, “My first tweet. Thank you all for the best wishes! Honoured to be given this responsibility. Proud to follow on the footsteps of @SushmaSwaraj ji.”
Jaishankar was a surprise addition to the Union Cabinet by Narendra Modi. He is a 1977-batch IFS officer and Padma Shri awardee, who had served as Foreign Secretary for three y ears from 2015 to 2018.
He is considered an expert on foreign relations and was instrumental in bringing back normalcy to Indo-China relations after the Doklam stand-off. He had served as India’s Ambassador to China and then to the US. He also served as Ambassador to the Czech Republic and as High Commissioner to Singapore. He was also the First Secretary and Political Advisor to the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka.
Jaishankar is known as Indian government’s key strategist for China and the US. During 2008, he was a member of the team which negotiated the Indo-US nuclear deal under the UPA government.
Though the new EAM is an expert on foreign relations and fits the bill of the post, he will be judged by the performance of his predecessor, Sushma Swaraj, who had brought in a human touch to the Ministry. Her pro active role in helping Indians in difficult situations across the world made her win the hearts of the people. Even the opposition were all in praise for her efforts to reach out to anyone who called out to her for help.
Her accessibility and down-to-earth approach to everybody will be missed. However, the new Foreign Minister is all set to take forward the initiatives taken by her.
Jaishankar tweeted, “We at Team @MEAIndia continue to at your service 24×7. Happy to be leading the effort with my colleague MoS Muraleedharan ji.”
V. Muraleedharan, who is the only minister hailing from Kerala, also took office along with Union Minister, Jaishankar. A former ABVP leader and Director of Nehru Yuva Kendra, he also proved his mettle as the President of Kerala BJP for two consecutive terms. He is considered as a perfectionist with an eye for details. His methodical and untiring work culture is also a boost to the ministry.
