On March 1, former Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha and Union Minister delivered a talk and promoted her new book In Pursuit of Democracy: Beyond Party Lines in Chicago. The Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (OFBJP) Chicago chapter hosted the event. The event also included a celebration of the BJP’s victory in the recently concluded Delhi Vidhan Sabha elections.
Dr. Heptulla is a former Chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia, a renowned university in Delhi. She was the longest-serving Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha, serving in that capacity for 35 years. She also served as the Vice President of the BJP and a federal minister (2014-2016) in the cabinet of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Before joining the BJP, Dr. Heptulla was part of the Congress Party.
Dr. Heptulla congratulated local volunteers and BJP supporters for making the party’s comeback to power possible after a 27-year gap. Highlighting India’s civilizational pluralism, Dr. Heptulla said that “India cannot have any other kind of government with so much diversity. The only way to survive for us is to follow democracy, with different languages, cultures, religions—even food and clothes.”
She also lauded women’s role in Indian society. “It is our women who have preserved Indian culture even after living in America, while men have switched to pants,” she commented during the event.
Avatans Kumar contributed to reporting on this piece.