‘Madam is busy’: When Najma Heptulla waited for an hour to talk to Sonia Gandhi

In 1999, after being elected to steer the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global physique of nationwide parliaments, Heptulla known as the 2 leaders from Berlin. She recounts the episode in her autobiography, In Pursuit of Democracy: Past Celebration Strains.

Calling the presidency a “historic first and an excellent honour” within the e-book, Heptulla added: “I first telephoned the prime minister, who acquired the decision immediately. When he heard the information, he was delighted, first as a result of the honour had come to India, and second, it had come to an Indian Muslim lady.”

However, a member of Sonia Gandhi’s workers knowledgeable that “Madam (Gandhi) is busy,” Heptulla talked about within the e-book.

“After I identified that I used to be calling from Berlin, a global name, he simply mentioned, ‘Please maintain the road.’ I waited for one full hour. Sonia by no means got here on the road to talk to me. I used to be really disillusioned. After that decision, I did not inform her something,” as per Heptulla, who has been with each Congress and BJP.

She additionally said it was BJP’s Vasundhara Raje who invited her and different MPs on the Parliament Annex to have fun her election as IPU president.

Additional, Heptulla claimed that after Sonia Gandhi turned Congress chief in 1998, “far too many layers of individuals sprung up between the rank and file, and the chief”.

(With PTI inputs)