While congratulating María Fernanda Espinosa, the Ecuadorian president of the 73rd Session of the UNGA, Swaraj remembered with pride that the first woman to hold that post was Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister.
Former PM Nehru and his family might be personae non gratae for the ruling dispensation with the BJP strongly antagonstic to the Opposition Congress led by Nehru's great-grandson Rahul Gandhi but that didn’t stop external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj from praising Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit at the 73rd UNGA during her speech.
While congratulating María Fernanda Espinosa, the Ecuadorian president of the 73rd Session of the UNGA, Swaraj remembered with pride that the first woman to hold that post was Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister.
She said during her speech: “May I begin by congratulating you on your election as the President of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, on my personal behalf as well as on behalf of my country, India. As a woman, I feel doubly proud that you have this honour. I also recall, with equal pride, that the first woman to occupy this eminent chair was an Indian Smt. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, in 1953 during the 8th session. I will also like to thank the outgoing President Mr. Miroslav Lajcak for successfully conducting the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.”
For the uninitiated, Vijayalakshmi Pandit was the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post in pre-independent India. Following independence, she entered the diplomatic service and India’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union, US and Mexico, Ireland, Spain and also Indian High Commissioner to UK. Between 1946 and 1968, she headed the Indian delegation to the UN and in 1953 became the first woman president of the UNGA.
In her later years, she was a harsh critic of her niece Indira Gandhi and spoke up against the excesses of the Emergency.
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