India gets its second woman defence minister, Twitteratti couldn’t be more proud

india

Updated: Sep 03, 2017 23:33 IST

Nirmala Sitharaman emerged as one of the biggest gainers in the Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday as prime minister Narendra Modi gave her the charge of defence ministry. Sitharaman became the only second woman to hold the crucial position after Indira Gandhi, India’s first woman prime minister.

A JNU alumna, Sitharaman, who was holding the Commerce portfolio, was promoted to the Cabinet rank after a major rejig carried out by the Modi government.

Soon after the news broke out, Twitterrati hailed it as a historic moment for India, making #NirmalaSitaraman trend on the microblogging site.

#nirmalasitaraman became a trending hashtag after cabinet reshuffle @TrendsmapIndia

Symbolic, but worth applauding. Not many countries would have a woman Defence Minister. Proud as an Indian!

Congratulations @nsitharaman https://t.co/D9GO2GYlnz — Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) September 3, 2017

#NirmalaSitharaman is India's new #DefenceMinister. A lady of few but firm words. A game changer. — Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) September 3, 2017

A woman #Defenceminister is one of the biggest signs of #women empowerment in any country.#Nirmala Sitharaman — shashank singh (@Shashank26Singh) September 3, 2017

our new Defense Minister 'Nirmala Sitharaman' and be the new Iron Lady of India✌ #DefenceMinister @nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/MSgNYakn9P — Bhautik Mandaliya (@brmandaliya) September 3, 2017

Wow! India's defence minister is a woman! Breaking with convention! — taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) September 3, 2017

Sitaraman joins a small group of women defence ministers across the globe. (See the full list here)

(With inputs from PTI)