Sushma Swaraj was "a great friend of Maldives", "truly India's daughter": President Solih

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih described India’s former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as “a great friend of Maldives” and “truly India’s daughter.”

The former minister passed away on Tuesday, after suffering a massive cardiac arrest.

In a tweet sent out early Wednesday morning, President Solih said that he was “sad” to hear of her passing and expressed condolences.

The president described the veteran BJP leader as “a public servant of extraordinary caliber and as External Affairs minister, a great friend of the Maldives.”

Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid also sent out condolences following the death of his former Indian counterpart and “good friend”, whom he called the “key architect of renewed Maldives-India friendship.”

Minister Shahid also called her “stateswoman extraordinaire, diplomat par excellence, [and] a warm human being.”

Shortly after news of former Minister Sushma’s death, Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted that Maldives “has lost a friend and a partner” while India lost “a stalwart and inspirational diplomat.”

Sushma Swaraj was a former Supreme Court lawyer and a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party. She served as the Minister of External Affairs of India from 2014 to 2019, during the first Prime Minister Narendra Modi government. She was the second woman to hold the office, after Indira Gandhi.

Sushma had a kidney transplant in 2016 and had opted out of contesting in the general elections earlier this year for health reasons.

While she was rushed to the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences in New Delhi in a critical condition at 9.50 pm on Tuesday, and was taken to the emergency ward after she suffered a cardiac arrest at her home. It was soon revealed that she passed away after suffering a heart attack.