Sushma Swaraj, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (died 2019)

Sushma Swaraj was an Indian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Delhi, and also the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. She was the second person to complete a 5-year term as the Minister of External Affairs, after Jawaharlal Nehru. A senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Swaraj was the second woman to hold the office of Minister of External Affairs, after Indira Gandhi. She was elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. At the age of 25 in 1977, she became the youngest cabinet minister of the Indian state of Haryana. She also served as Chief Minister of Delhi for a short duration in 1998 and became the first female Chief Minister of Delhi.

The minister of external affairs is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most offices in the union cabinet, the chief responsibility of the minister of external affairs is to represent the government of India in the international community and advance its interests on the global stage. As such, the minister plays an important role in shaping and directing the country's foreign policy. Typically, the minister is assisted by one or more junior ministers, known as Ministers of State (MoS) for External Affairs.