Former Union Minister Najma Heptulla was sworn-in as the 18th governor of Manipur, Heptulla’s appointment as Manipur governor comes after her resignation from the NDA Union cabinet last month on “age” grounds. The government is believed to have set an unwritten ‘75-year age bar’ for ministers and has kept veterans such as L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi out of the cabinet. The swearing in ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi and his cabinet colleagues among others.
- Heptullah’s two-year stint as minister for minority affairs was peppered with occasional controversial statements like when she questioned the logic of categorising Muslims as minorities or talked about the people of Hindustan being Hindus.
- Overall, Heptulla never let her ministerial charge come in the way of her unflinching loyalty to the BJP, with a resolute refusal to criticise controversial, often blatantly anti-Muslim statements of her party colleagues.
About Dr. Najma Akbarali Heptulla:
Dr. Najma Akbarali Heptulla (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian politician. She is a former vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and a five time member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian parliament, between 1986 and 2012, and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for sixteen years.
- She was a member representing Rajasthan from July 2004 to July 2010. She was nominated by the BJP for the Rajya Sabha in 2012 from Madhya Pradesh, and assumed her office on 24 April 2012.
- She is a second cousin to actor Aamir Khan.[2][3][4] She contested the 13th vice-presidential election held in August 2007 but lost to Hamid Ansari by 233 votes. She took oath as a cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi headed government on 26 May 2014. She is assisted by Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who joined the Council of Ministers as a Minister of State in November 2014.
