Najma Heptulla: A trailblazer in Indian politics with a life full of firsts

From a privileged childhood to shaping inclusivity in public service, Dr Heptulla's journey defied stereotypes and left a lasting legacy

In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines

Author: Najma Heptulla

Publisher: Rupa

Pages: 238

Price: Rs 695

 

A Muslim woman in public service who rose to a career pinnacle in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Najma Heptulla’s biography chronicles a fascinating journey that swept aside stereotypes and fashioned a career almost entirely on her own terms.

 

Almost entirely? Dr Heptulla’s greatest ambition — to become chairman of the Rajya Sabha (and vice-president of India) — remained unfulfilled for reasons that will forever be a mystery. No one could have been more qualified for the position. But in her book, Dr Heptulla doesn’t waste time over regret. Instead, she describes the opportunities she got and how she tried to engineer change, sometimes tentatively, but mostly with bold resolve.

 

 

Dr Heptulla had an idyllic childhood in Bhopal. She ran through family orchards and climbed trees but also learnt embroidery, knitting and cooking, skills that stayed with her. She once called this reporter with an unusual query. She wanted to make authentic avakkaya pickle, she said, but “do you have to boil the chana before you put it in?” Her keema karela was legendary. She could have become a doctor but she was underage and her family baulked at the thought. So, she enrolled for a BSc (she was the only girl in her class) followed by a Master’s and a PhD in Zoology, winning the gold medal. As she was “the favourite” grandchild of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Union minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, she had access to Nehru and later to Indira, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. Of course, her relationship to each was different.

 

As she started public life in the Congress, her early mentors were naturally from that party. Though she joined the BJP in 2004, there is no denigration in her book of those in opposing parties who influenced her political trajectory: Y B Chavan, the legendary Maratha strongman of Maharashtra, Indira Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao. She acknowledges Lalu Prasad as a helpful colleague whom she found extremely “bright”. Her relationship with Sonia Gandhi was not smooth but when she left the Congress to join the BJP, it was not a transactional move; the year she moved, the Congress came to power.

 

Dr Heptulla could always see both sides in an argument. And this quality of bipartisanship helped her enormously as deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the only one in Indian parliamentary history to have been elected to that position four times for a total term of 17 years. As Union minister for minority affairs in a BJP government, she framed initiatives for inclusivity that continue to be in place. It can’t have been easy to survive in a ministry for which many in the Sangh Parivar saw no justification. She flags issues around Waqf land and the role of land sharks fleetingly, though it was speculated at the time that those pressures led to her replacement. She was sent to Manipur as governor. She recalls her tenure, her interaction with Kukis and Meiteis and hopes fervently that peace will return to the state soon.

 

Dr Heptulla’s contributions to diplomacy, especially in the Islamic world, make for interesting reading. The 1980s and 1990s saw tremendous global upheavals and her help was sought by the government on multiple occasions. She took the initiative to put plans in place that led to an invitation to Indira Gandhi to visit Saudi Arabia in 1982 (as part of that delegation, she tasted camel milk for the first time!). But the visit represented significant movement in relations between the two countries. “Mrs Gandhi was able to assure the Saudis that minorities in India were safe, treated as equals, with respect,” Dr Heptulla notes, adding Gandhi persuaded Riyadh to limit Saudi arms purchase aid to Pakistan and replace ad hoc export of crude oil to India with regular long-term supply. In 1990, when the Gulf War was raging, the Chandra Shekhar government sent her to Jordan to meet King Hussein. Her Congress colleagues advised her not to pull the Chandra Shekhar  government’s chestnuts out of the fire. Dr Heptulla retorted that she was doing what she was not because of Chandra Shekhar  but for India.

 

Dr Heptulla’s innate intelligence illumined her political life. Colour television came to India with the Asian Games in 1982, but Indira Gandhi was not convinced India needed it. Dr Heptulla convinced her that Krishi Darshan, a programme watched by farmers all across India to modernise agricultural practices, would be more effective in colour. “I explained how, for instance, a black-and-white programme on leaf rust—a fungal disease of the wheat—could hardly help the farmers. They could relate to it easily if shown in colour. And it could also draw in the younger audience.”

 

Dr Heptulla says: “Indira Gandhi just looked at me in disbelief with a slight smile and a twinkle in her eyes at my perseverance. Finally, she chuckled, ‘You are so mischievous. You never give up, do you?’”

 

MPs she dealt with found that she was nice — but also naughty. She notes that the practice of some south Indian MPs in the Rajya Sabha of holding up their veshtis at “half mast” especially during protests, was … disquieting. Those who know her can testify to her talent as a mimic. And her sense of humour managed to defuse many tense situations in the management of the Rajya Sabha.

 

Dr Heptulla was born to privilege but strongly empathised with those who did not have as much as her. Her commitment to the empowerment of women has remained a constant, as this elegantly written story of her life tells us.