Karanvir Bohra recalls how Sushma Swaraj helped him in Russia

The image was shared by Karanvir Bohra on his official Instagram account when he was stuck at Moscow, Russia

Former External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest on Tuesday, July 6, 2019. Condolences poured in from all quarters of the world for the politician.

Television actor Karanvir Bohra took to Twitter to express condolences. He also recounted how the Swaraj-led ministry of external affairs came to his rescue after he was detained for travelling with a damaged passport.

"Shocked to hear that Sushma Swaraji passed away. A woman who worked hard for the betterment of our country, she never made any Indian feel alienated when in trouble in a foreign land. Like in Russia, if it wasn't for Sushmaji I would have been impounded. RIP Sushmaji. Jai Hind," Karanvir tweeted.

Early this year, Karanvir landed at the Moscow international airport and was detained after a tear on his passport allegedly led officials to raise an alarm. Talking to mid-day from Moscow at the time of the incident, the actor recounted the incident.

"The officials at the immigration desk checked my passport for almost 15 to 20 minutes. They concluded that my passport was damaged and that they would have to deport me. I was surprised as I had not faced any difficulties while leaving India or at the visa office," he said, adding that he then appraised the Indian Embassy and Russian Embassy of the situation by tweeting about it. "I also called the officials of the MacCoffee Bollywood Film Festival and informed them too."

Fortunately, the Ministry of External Affairs sprung into action and brought to a close Bohra's eight-hour ordeal. "I am thankful to honourable minister Sushma Swaraj and the officials as they intervened from India. After waiting here for almost eight hours, the Indian Embassy in Moscow issued a brand new temporary passport and visa to me."

Swaraj was appointed the foreign minister in the first term of Modi government in 2014. She opted out of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections citing ill health. During her tenure, the BJP leader had been active and popular on Twitter, reaching out to the Indian diaspora in distress for assistance.

Apart from him, Bollywood celebrities like Parineeti Chopra, Shabana Azmi, Sunny Deol, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Ekta Kapoor, Javed Akhtar, Lata Mangeshkar, Swara Bhasker took to social media to offer condolences and remembered the beloved leader.

The senior BJP leader was brought to AIIMS at 10:15 PM and was straight away taken to the emergency ward. She had a kidney transplant in 2016 and had opted out of contesting Lok Sabha polls earlier this year for health reasons.

Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP working president JP Nadda among others paid tribute to the former external affairs minister at her residence.

Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan remembers Sushma Swaraj: An extraordinary speaker and politician

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