On Wednesday, wrapped in a tricolour, her body was brought to the Lodhi Road electric crematorium in a funeral procession from the BJP headquarters, where BJP workers and mourners gathered in large numbers to have a last glimpse of the leader. Swaraj's daughter Bansuri performed the last rites as tears rolled down her face. The prime minister was later seen comforting her and Swaraj's husband Swaraj Kaushal.
Swaraj died at AIIMS here late Tuesday night at the age of 67 after suffering a massive heart attack, plunging the country in a state of grief and sparking an outpouring of condolences from across the world.
Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Modi, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and scores of other leaders paid homage to Swaraj at her residence.
Swaraj was a tough fighter in the political battlefield and was admired and respected across party lines.
Swaraj had unsuccessfully contested against Gandhi in 1999 from Bellary Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, an election that attracted nationwide attention as it was the Congress leader's electoral debut.
BJP patriarch L K Advani, in his condolence message, said: "She touched everyone with her warmth and compassionate nature. I do not recall a single year when she missed bringing my favourite chocolate cake to me on my birthday."
Swaraj was considered Advani's protege. Advani said he had worked with her since the beginning of her "illustrious innings" in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"And over the years, she became one of the most popular and prominent leaders of our party, in fact, a role model for women leaders," he said.
Political leaders across the country, irrespective of their party affiliations, paid glowing tributes to Swaraj.
As India's external affairs minister in the previous government, she left behind a legacy of an easily-accessible minister who helped the diaspora in distress with her revolutionary social media outreach.
Several path-breaking measures such as the passport infrastructure expansion and enhanced engagement with the East were the highlights of her tenure.
She was only the second woman to hold the portfolio after Indira Gandhi, who briefly kept the external affairs ministry under her while being the prime minister.
Swaraj had many firsts to her credit. She was the youngest cabinet minister in Haryana government, the first woman chief minister of Delhi and the first woman spokesperson for a national political party in the country.
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