Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian politician. She was the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Jamia Millia Islamia Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...

from 2017 to 2023, until

Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin () is the spiritual leader, the 53rd Da'i al-Mutlaq of more than one million Dawoodi Bohras, a subgroup of the Tayyibi, Musta'li, Ismaili Shia branch of Islam. He is the second son of the 52nd Da'i al-Mutlaq, Moha ...

was elected as new

on 14 March 2023. She was a six time member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, the upper house of the Indian parliament, between 1980 and 2016, and

Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (IAST: ) presides over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in the absence of the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (vice president of India). The deputy chairperson is elected internally by the Rajya Sabha. L ...

for sixteen years when she was a member of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. Later she was nominated vice-president of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) in 2007, and was a minister from 2014-2016 as a member of BJP in Narendra Modi's first government. From 2016 to 2021, she served as the 16th Governor of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

. She is a second cousin to actor

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and television personality who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. Referred to as "Mr. Perfectionist" in the media, he is known for his work in a variety of film g ...

and grand niece of

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin (11 November 188822 February 1958), better known as Maulana Azad and sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was an Indian politician, writer and activist of the Indian independence movement. A senior leader of t ...

. She contested the 13th vice-presidential election held in August 2007 but lost to

Hamid Ansari Hamid refers to two different but related Arabic given names, both of which come from the Arabic triconsonantal root of Ḥ-M-D (): # (Arabic: ''ḥāmed'') also spelled Haamed, Hamid or Hamed, and in Turkish Hamit; it means "lauder" or "one ...

by 233 votes. She took oath as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

in the

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

headed government on 26 May 2014 and was replaced by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in July 2016.

Early life and background

Najma was born as Sayyida Najma bint Yusuf on 13 April 1940 in

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

Bhopal State Bhopal State (pronounced ) was founded by the Maharaja of Parmar Rajputs. In the beginning of the 18th-century, Bhopal State was converted into an Islamic principality, in the invasion of the Afghan Mughal noble Dost Muhammad Khan. It was ...

, in present

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn. The title may also refer ...

Yusuf bin Ali AlHashmi and Sayyida Fatima bint Mahmood. She is a

Dawoodi Bohra The Dawoodi Bohras are a religious denomination within the Ismā'īlī branch of Shia Islam. They number approximately one million worldwide and have settled in over 40 countries around the world. The majority of the Dawoodi Bohra community re ...

Ismaili Shia Gujarati with

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

ancestry, as traced by her ancestral roots in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

as well as

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

state. She did her schooling at Motilal Vigyan Mahavidyalaya (MVM) Bhopal, and obtained an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degree, both in

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

(Cardiac Anatomy) from

Vikram University Vikram University is located in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The university was named after the ruler Vikramaditya. It was established in 1957. It was evaluated by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and was awarded B++ gra ...

Ujjain Ujjain (, , old name Avantika, ) or Ujjayinī is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative as well as religious centre of Ujjain ...

. She married Akbar Ali Akhtar Heptulla in 1966, and has three daughters. Her husband, Akbar Ali Akhtar Heptulla, a manpower consultant, was instrumental in the establishment of the ''Patriot'' newspaper in the 1960s. He died on 4 September 2007, in New Delhi at the age of 75.

Career

She steadily climbed up in the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party, heading several divisions of the party's grassroots organisations. She was the General Secretary of Congress during 1986 with the additional responsibility of youth activities of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

and the

NSUI The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) is the student wing of the Indian National Congress. It was established on 9 April 1971, founded by Indira Gandhi after merging the Kerala Students Union and the West Bengal State Chhatra Parishad ...

. Since 1980, she was a member of the

from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

for four terms, elected in 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998 as Congress candidate. Najma was the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha from January 1985 to January 1986 and from 1988 to July 2004. Heptulla joined

in 2004. Media sources reported that she left the Congress apparently due to a strain in relationship with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Later she alleged that she was personally humiliated by Sonia Gandhi. She declared that she was leaving the party due to the problems with party leadership. In 2007, BJP-led NDA fielded her as a candidate in the elections for the Vice-President of India, which was won by

. She was a member of Rajya Sabha, representing

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

for BJP from July 2004 to July 2010. She was nominated by the BJP for the Rajya Sabha in 2012 from

, and assumed her office on 24 April 2012 upon election. Under

Nitin Gadkari Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician who serves as the 40th Minister of Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India since 2014. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways, current ...

as BJP President, she became one of the 13 vice-presidents of the BJP in 2010, where later when

Rajnath Singh Rajnath Singh (; born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician and lecturer who is serving the Defence Minister of India since 20 May 2019. He was also the Deputy Leader of the House, Lok Sabha since 2014. He also served the Home Minister in th ...

took over, she was made a member of the party's national executive. Heptulla served as the Minister of Minority Affairs in Prime minister

's cabinet from 26 May 2014 to 12 July 2016. She said that minorities needed a level playing field in Indian society, but reservation is not the solution as it kills the spirit of competition. She resigned from her positions as a minister and a member of Rajya Sabha in 2016 when she was nominated Governor of Manipur. Heptulla was nominated to head the

Indian Council for Cultural Relations The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people. It was founded on 9 April ...

, ICCR. She also presided over the women parliamentarians' group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 1993 and became founder president of the parliamentarians' forum for human development the same year. She was also elected President of

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

(IPU), a

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

-based international organisation at Council's 165th session in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1999. She held the post from 16 October 1999 to 27 September 2002. Subsequently, in 2002, at Council's 171st session, she was chosen the Honorary President of the IPU Council. 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. Heptulla has authored book on AIDS titled "AIDS: Approaches to Prevention". She has also written on human social security, sustainable development, environment, reforms for women and on ties between India and west Asia. Heptulla faced charges of having morphed a 1958 photograph to show her along with

in a publication of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR). The controversial photograph was published in an ICCR publication titled 'Journey of a legend', on the life of Maulana Azad, a noted scholar and the country's first education minister. He was also the first chairperson of the ICCR and the publication came out when the council was headed by Heptulla. The photograph came with an introduction and showed a young Heptulla with the Maulana. The caption read "Najma Heptulla with Maulana Azad after her graduation". This gave the game away as official inquiries later revealed Heptulla had graduated in May 1958, whereas the Maulana had died on 22 February 1958. The publication was later withdrawn by the ICCR and its revised version is released but without the controversial photograph. Delhi High court had directed the CBI to investigate the case on a public interest litigation filed by ICCR Employees Association president.

Awards and decorations

State honours

*: **

Recipient of the

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(2019)

Awards

*Recipient of the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2013

References

External links

Detailed Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heptulla, Najma 1940 births Living people Indian vice-presidential candidates Deputy chairmen of the Rajya Sabha Vikram University alumni Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra Dawoodi Bohras Indian Ismailis Gujarati people Indian Shia Muslims Indian people of Arab descent Hashemite people Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan Rajya Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh People from Bhopal 21st-century Indian Muslims Women in Madhya Pradesh politics Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Madhya Pradesh Narendra Modi ministry Ministers of minority affairs Women members of the Cabinet of India 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Rajya Sabha members from the Bharatiya Janata Party Women members of the Rajya Sabha Governors of Manipur Women state governors of India