A Muslim across the communal divide

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.

- ADITI PHADNIS

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.