'Why not give this government a chance?'

Q&A/Najma Heptullah

For 16 years she has presided over the Rajya Sabha and is now fond of saying that she has developed eyes at the back of her head.

Najma Heptullah spoke toBusiness Standard on whether she really wants to join the BJP, what it is like to be a Muslim in India today and why she is embittered with the Congress.
Excerpts:

It appears from what you say that you want to join the BJP. You've criticised Congress President Sonia Gandhi for humiliating you, you've said you don't want to be a plaything of the Congress...

I am a Congresswoman. I belong to a family of three generations of Congressmen. I can't just forget all that. It is not a question of wanting to join the BJP. But for some time now, I have been looking at the situation. I have watched the government function.

For the first time, a non-Congress government has completed five years in power. It has made all the right moves in several fields "" economy, liberalisation, trade, industry and so on.

There is also an internal support to liberalisation and a phenomenal development of the communications network, not just in terms of telephones but also roads. India has never worked towards a proper road network. And without roads you can't knit the country together.

This government has established credibility not just for itself, but for India too. Earlier, it leveraged its position as a leader of the non-aligned nations.

Now it is also considering to be a leader of the developing countries, knocking insistently on the door to be let into the most powerful political groups of the world. All this has happened under Atal Bihari Vajpaye's leadership.

Yes, Gujarat was a shock. Everyone in India and abroad was taken aback. But the government apologised and gave explanations, not once, but twice, thrice, for Godhra as well as its aftermath.

In the last 35 or so years that I have been in the Congress, I have seen many communal riots. No one can condone any riot, small or big. I have always felt: why can't the country get out of this communal divide? Why can't we have development for all, progress for everyone?

Vajpayee has shown that. The two most difficult problems "" Pakistan and Kashmir "" have been handled with demonstrable sincerity. I have been All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Jammu & Kashmir from 1986 to 1988. I know how complex the problem is. Vajpayee's efforts to have a dialogue with Pakistan received a setback but he persisted.

Who are most affected by the conflict between India and Pakistan? It's the families that have been divided for the last 50 years. Now there are good vibes between India and Pakistan once again. This was evident when I visited Pakistan recently. There was a groundswell of feeling for Vajpayee.

I learnt more from the recent assembly elections. The prime minister hasn't said: "I have built this road only for the Hindus to walk on it" or "the improvement in the economy is only for the Hindus" or that "when I speak from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I am speaking only to the Hindus". So why not give this government a chance? Why must minorities always be wrapped up in the past?

Where do you think the Congress let down the minorities?

What happened to the Srikrishna report on the Bombay riots? What happened to the 15-point charter for minorities that the Congress evolved and to which it was committed? All right, we are out of power at the Centre.

But what about the state governments? Did any of them try to implement the charter? Congress stifled focus on job creation and education for the minorities in the states it was ruling. We had governments in 17 states "" are the Muslims there better-off than they are in, say, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Assam?

Why is it that in order to bring about a change in the way minorities think, you had to go backwards? Why an appeal to the minorities always through routes that were regressive?

I don't know. In the Congress, we were supposed to be different. But now, what does "secular" mean? What does "communal" stand for? I believe that the H D Deve Gowda government was a secular government.

Then why was it toppled over by the Congress? Please read the speeches of Congress leaders in the two houses. Speaker after speaker has said: "We must remove Deve Gowda to keep communalists at bay." But they removed Deve Gowda because Sitaram Kesri and he couldn't get along. Then why pin it on communalism or secularism? It's just that what they say and what they mean is quite different.

I have been in the House for 16 years. Secularism and communalism have no meaning for me. Yes, Gujarat riots happened. But so did Maliana, Meerut, Bhiwandi, Moradabad, Hyderabad, Bhagalpur and so on.

The Muslims said: "We have to vote for Congress because we have no alternative." But if the Congress's policies had been correct, they would have said: "We are voting for the Congress because we think it is the right party to vote for." Not out of fear, but confidence.

You have been called a "Siberian crane" that flies towards warm climes when the opportunity arises.

No matter what they say, I am still a Congresswoman after all these years. I was a Congresswoman in 1977, when it was extremely cold for Congress people. Not many people I see around me now in the party were there to share the cold at that time.

I could name a few who have feathered their nests by strategically flying out of the party and returning when the weather was better. I feel they are more deserving of Siberian Crane-dom, but taking names would serve no purpose.

I am told I ceased to be a member when I received an award from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K Sudarshan two years ago. Sudarshan gave me that award "" Ojaswini "" for becoming the first woman Indian president, in the 112-year history, of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU). He is supposed to be communal, and patriarchal and anti-women. But he honoured me. My own party didn't care two figs for the honour I won.

On the other hand, I was told that I couldn't be made the party's candidate for vice president, because the party couldn't nominate two Muslims. [P M Sayeed was already the Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha and Heptullah would have had to become chairman of the Rajya Sabha to become vice president.]

How do you feel when you drive past the AICC office today?

I remember the time when as general secretaries, Chandresh Kumari and I decided we would weigh, not count publicity materials because we were aghast at the pilferage that was taking place and like two housewives, we decided to put an end to it.

I remember the time in 1998 when I would start my car and it would drive itself to 10 Janpath because I was spending so much time trying to help Sonia Gandhi rise in politics. I remember all the stalwarts with whom I worked and from whom I learnt "" Moopanar, Kamlapati Tripathi, Indiraji, Rajivji... I feel it is my party's office.