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India
to Push Muslim Woman for Top UN Post
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Najma Heptulla
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By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, July 12 (IslamOnline)- Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
declared that India will bid for top United Nations of
Secretary-General after Kofi Annan's term ends after about
two-and-a-half years. The candidate will be Najma Heptulla, deputy
chairperson of the upper house of Parliament and India's unofficial
goodwill ambassador to Middle Eastern countries.
This
time round it is the turn of the Asian continent to send someone to
the UNO as its head. Prime Minister Vajpayee has made his intentions
clear to bid for the prestigious post of the world body, and the
candidate will be Najma Heptulla, earlier seriously considered for the
post of vice president of India.
Najma
Heptulla is currently heading the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and
is widely believed to be the best choice possible, considering her
worldwide reputation as a parliamentarian. Thanks to her frequent
tours and participation in international flora, Heptulla is a known
face internationally, and enjoys an excellent rapport with almost all
the top leaders in the Middle East. Besides, Najma Heptulla has been
representing India in several diplomatic assignments for the last two
decades under successive governments. Despite belonging to the
Congress Party, Heptulla enjoys the trust of all political parties and
has good contacts in many democratic countries.
In
1999 Najma Heptullah became the first woman to be unanimously elected
as the president of Inter-Parliamentary Council of the IPU in its
110-year history. The IPU is the representative body of national
parliaments in 138 countries.
Heptulla
had been active for years in different committees and bodies of the
IPU. Earlier, she served the IPU as vice-president and member of the
executive committee.
A
postgraduate in zoology and holding a doctorate in cardiac anatomy, Dr
Najma Heptulla was a senior scientific fellow with the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) before joining politics..
It
was in 1980 that Heptullah decided to devote herself to full-time
politics. Being a grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's
first education minister, she was well received in politics.
Being
a kin of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was closely associated with the
freedom movement, has stood her in good stead. It was Jawaharlal
Nehru, India's first prime minister, who personally monitored her
academic career. Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, also an Indian prime
minister, got her nominated to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of
Parliament. Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's son, during his tenure as
prime minister, got her elected to the post of deputy chairperson of
Rajya Sabha.
She
entered into Parliament as a member of Rajya Sabha in 1980. At the age
of 45, she became deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha in 1985.
Currently, she is holding the post of deputy chairperson for the
fourth term.
Affable
and accessible, Heptulla can be suitably described as a politician
with an academic bent of mind. She has to her credit several research
papers published in foreign and Indian journals. She has written
extensively on women issues. She is also a member of the advisory
committee and editorial board of two research journals
--
the Indian Journal of Zoology and the Journal of Anatomy. Besides, she
has written a book titled India's Progress in Science and Technology,
Continuity and Change.
Heptulla's
personality typifies varied traits. Promotion of scientific knowledge,
economic cooperation, international understanding and upliftment of
women are special areas of her interest. Reading, writing, freelance
journalism and playing sitar are her favorite pastime and recreation.
The
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government of Atal Behari
Vajpayee is seriously considering Najma Heptulla for the top UNO post,
because it feels that India's standing among the comity of nations has
taken a severe beating in the aftermath of anti-Muslim pogroms in
Gujarat. Election to the UN post would require support from Muslim and
Arab nations, who form a sizeable chunk in the Asian and African
continents. A "Muslim" Najma Heptulla would most certainly
be a good bet at this juncture. BJP has already nominated a
"Muslim" for the post of president of India to whitewash its
sullied image.
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