Senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj began her final journey on Wednesday as she is being taken to the Lodhi Road crematorium where her last rites will be performed with full state honours.

Cutting across the party lines, everyone gathered to bid farewell to one of the finest leaders India has ever seen. BJP workers, party colleagues, leaders from the opposition as well as the public were present to see the remarkable leader for one last time.

The casket carrying her mortal remains from the BJP headquarters to the crematorium was followed by a long line of vehicles.

Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and other BJP leaders gave a shoulder to the mortal remains of Swaraj as they were taken from the BJP headquarters to Lodhi crematorium in Delhi.

Former External Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj passed away late on Tuesday night after suffering a heart attack. She was 67 years old.

Swaraj was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in a critical condition on Tuesday evening. She was brought to AIIMS at 10:15 pm by her family and was straight away taken to the emergency ward, soon after which she died.

A pall of gloom descended at the hospital as the news of her death left everyone in shock.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled her death and tweeted that “a glorious chapter in Indian politics had come to an end”.

The mortal remains of the former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was taken from AIIMS to her Delhi residence on Tuesday night where they were kept for people to pay last respects. Then around 12 pm today, her mortal remains were brought to the BJP headquarters.

Leaders across the political spectrum paid tributes to the former External Affairs Minister who gave a humane face to the foreign ministry.

Extremely emotional scenes were witnessed at the residence of Sushma Swaraj early today morning as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LK Advani among other top leaders broke down after meeting her family members.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Amit Shah, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sonia Gandhi were among the other top personalities to be present at the late leader’s residence.

A star minister during Modi government’s first stint, Sushma Swaraj, who had a kidney transplant in 2016, did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on account of her health.

After PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony last month, Sushma Swaraj had tweeted thanking PM Modi for giving her the opportunity to hold the office for five years.

Hours before her death, Swaraj had put out a tweet congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Centre’s bold move to revoke special status for Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the border state into two Union Territories secured Parliament’s approval.

“Thank you Prime Minister. Thank you very much. I was waiting to see this day in my lifetime,” she said.