Najma Heptulla on Sonia Gandhi: "In 1998, when Sonia Gandhi donned the party mantle, far too many layers of people sprung up between the rank and file, and the leader. That was the problem with 10 Janpath. Direct communication was cut off because of junior functionaries. They were not party workers, just clerks and other staff working there," former Union minister and veteran parliamentarian Najma Heptulla, who was with the Congress party till 2004 before joining the BJP, wrote in her autobiography, 'In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines'. Heptulla, who became a Rajya Sabha member in 1980 and served as Deputy Chairperson of the Upper House for 17 years, delves into several incidents in her book that reflect the growing mistrust between her and the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The former Union Minister for Minority Affairs also stated in her autobiography, "There was little interaction based on the quality of our exchanges, little understanding of who were part of our leader's in-groups or out-groups or even how to support our leader's vision. The decline started then."
'Madam is busy': When Najma Heptulla waited an hour to talk to Sonia Gandhi
Najma Heptulla recalled an incident in 1999 when she rang up Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to inform her about the news of her being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). However, one of Gandhi's staff first said that 'Madam is busy' and later 'Please hold the line'. Heptulla said she waited for one full hour, but Sonia Gandhi never came on the line to speak to her.
"If every country, culture and family has its special moments - events so important, and somehow so personal, that they transcend the normal flow of daily life - this was one such moment for me - a moment in time of such importance that it drilled a sense of rejection in my psyche forever. It was, however, a rejection that proved prescient," she wrote in the book.
When Sonia Gandhi wanted Najma Heptulla to leave Congress
Heptulla, the former Governor of Manipur, also mentioned another incident of 1999 in her book when several veteran Congress leaders felt marginalised within the party. Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma, and Tariq Anwar left the party on the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Rajesh Pilot and Jitendra Prasada, too, stood up against the Gandhi family.
Heptulla continued in the party, but Sonia began suggesting that she would eventually leave and join Pawar. "It was strange of her to think so," said Heptulla. "Sonia trusted very few people. And I felt she did not trust me," she added.
Indira Gandhi used to keep an open house: Najma Heptulla hits out at Sonia's Congress
Heptulla compared Sonia Gandhi's Congress with the era of her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi. Heptulla came out heavily on Sonia and said, "We were dealing with more than just deep mistrust. We were cut off from Sonia Gandhi and could not communicate with her. This was a sharp and serious departure from the earlier Congress culture. Indira Gandhi used to keep an open house. She was accessible to rank-and-file members. She assiduously greeted every visitor who came from across the country to meet her every morning."
"I could reach out to her (Indira Gandhi) anytime and would inform her about things on the ground in my own way. I never critiqued her harshly but simply pointed out things I had experienced, seen or heard on the ground," the former Congress leader said.
Heptulla, the longest-serving presiding officer of a Parliament anywhere in the world, criticised Sonia Gandhi's style of functioning as communication lines got severed within the organisation. "As Congress followers, we no longer had an active role in providing feedback to our leader - so critical for a party to perform well," she said in the book.
Sonia Gandhi's relationship with Sitaram Kesri and PV Narasimha Rao
Heptulla in her autobiography also hit out at Sonia Gandhi for 'humiliating' senior leaders Sitaram Kesri and PV Narasimha Rao. "I witnessed one such event with Sitaram Kesri, who was unanimously elected as President of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) in 1997. One day, when I was waiting for Sonia in the lobby at 10 Janpath, he came in and was also asked to wait. As moments passed, he started losing his temper, and said, 'I am Treasurer of the party and not any ordinary member. She (Heptulla) is Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. We have not come here to exchange pleasantries, but have serious issues to discuss. And we are made to wait like this?' He felt humiliated and departed," she wrote in the book.
"When Sonia decided to take over the leadership of the party from Kesri, there was significant apprehension within the party. Concerns were raised about her readiness and suitability for the position due to her lack of experience, her Italian heritage, and her limited fluency in Hindi. Ghulam Nabi Azad and I worked tirelessly to convince the party leadership and cadre that she was indeed ready and capable of being an effective leader," Heptulla said.
Heptulla also highlighted Sonia Gandhi's frosty relationship with former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. "Rao was not on good terms with Sonia Gandhi. She wanted him to report to her, and he refused. And he paid a price for this. The Congress Party failed to acknowledge the economic reforms he introduced that eventually led to the country's economic transformation. They did not stand by him when he was assailed with corruption charges - although these were never proven. And the moment he lost the 1996 elections, he was forced to step down as Congress president. He spent his last days without friends, in financial distress and in poor health."
"The final humiliation came after his death - the Congress did not allow his last rites to be performed in Delhi," she added.
Faced a lot of harassment from people close to Sonia: Heptulla on the end of the road with Congress
Najma Heptulla talked about her reasons for leaving the Congress party in 2004 and attributed it to Sonia Gandhi. She claimed that she faced a lot of harassment from people close to the then Congress president as they demanded her to leave her work in Parliament and join them whenever they organised dharnas or garlanded statues of past Congress leaders on their birth or death anniversaries. The former Congress leader also revealed in the book that she assisted Sonia Gandhi with all her speeches. "All my support proved insufficient to convince her of my loyalty," she added.
"I felt isolated when I was excluded from critical party decisions that directly impacted me," Heptulla recalled.
She also raked up the issue of the Gandhi family ruining the party affairs completely. "The Congress Party became stagnant, with leadership development stifled by Sonia's insecurities about potential challengers to her authority. Every leader was expected to operate under the umbrella of a single family controlling everything," she alleged.
Sonia Gandhi never called me and I never contacted her: Heptulla
Najma Heptulla resigned as Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha on June 10, 2004. She also resigned from the Congress. She blamed Sonia Gandhi for her resignation and said that things took a different turn after Rajiv Gandhi.
Heptulla finally joined the BJP in July 2004 after Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent Venkaiah Naidu, the then BJP president, to her home with membership papers to sign.
