Najma Heptulla turns 83: A Lookback at her remarkable political career

Born of April 13, 1940, Najma Heptulla is an Indian politician, government official, social advocate, and writer, who occupied prominent positions in both the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and long served in the Rajya Sabha (upper chamber of the Indian parliament).

Heptulla was raised in Bhopal and is the grandniece of the renowned Islamic scholar and Indian independence activist Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad.

In 1960 she received a master’s degree in zoology from a college in Bhopal and two years later earned a Ph.D. in cardiac anatomy from University of Denver. She did her initial schooling from Motilal Vigyan Mahavidyalaya, Bhopal.

She married Akbarali A. Heptulla, apparently was one of the few people who imported newsprint from Russia and was instrumental in establishing The Patriot in the 1960s. Sadly, Akbarali passed away in September 2007.

On her 83rd birthday, here are some facts that you need to know about the senior leader:

Heptulla is a second cousin to actor Aamir Khan and grand niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Najma Heptulla began her career in politics by joining the Indian National Congress and was the General Secretary of the party in 1986.

Since 1980, she has been a member of the Rajya Sabha for several terms as a Congress candidate. She was also the Deputy Chairperson on the Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1986 and 1988 to 2004.

Later in 2004, Najma left the Congress and joined the BJP thereafter. It is suspected that she was disappointed by the party leadership and had a strained relationship with Sonia Gandhi. She also alleged that Sonia Gandhi personally humiliated her.

Under Nitin Gadkari’s leadership of the BJP, she was appointed as one of the Vice Presidents of the party. Under Rajnath Singh, she was made a member of the party’s national executive.

Dr. Heptulla has written and commented on several Human Rights issues such as social security, sustainable development, reforms for women etc. She has also penned a book AIDS: Approachs to Prevention.

Author of several books and an activist, Heptulla was nominated by the United Nations Development Programme as its human development ambassador. Heptulla led a delegation to the UN Commission on Status of Women in 1997.

Interestingly, being a Muslim herself, Najma considers Parsis a minority and not Muslims.