Najma Heptulla is one of India’s longest-serving parliamentarians, holding the record for the longest stint as Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. Her granduncle was Dr Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a key freedom fighter and independent India’s first Union Education Minister. She was close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, working in Indira Gandhi’s inner circle and maintaining a strong relationship with Rajiv Gandhi. Her political shift from the Congress to the BJP, following a disagreement with Sonia Gandhi, drew widespread attention.

In her recent autobiography, In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines, Heptulla writes about her political journey. Currently living with her daughter in Chicago, she talks at length with Frontline about issues ranging from what went wrong between her and Sonia Gandhi, why she does not consider the BJP or the RSS ideological outcasts, the opposition’s no-confidence move against Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, and what she did to get the situation in Manipur under control when she was Governor.