My Life in Indian Politics

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Mohsina Kidwai has been in public life as a member Mof the Indian National Congress for over six decades. A cabinet minister in several successive central governments and a senior office-holder in the Congress party, she has had a ringside view of Indian politics for almost the entire span of independent India's existence. She has witnessed, and been a participant in, the tenures of prime ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and was a member of parliament until 2016, one of only twenty Muslim women to have been elected to the Lok Sabha since 1951.

In this candid account of her life, Kidwai assesses not just her own contribution to public life, but also provides an honest appraisal of the turn in fortunes of the political party she has remained a loyal member of. The reader is treated to rare glimpses into the homes, lives and the hurly-burly of election campaigns over the decades. A memorable one is the Azamgarh bypoll of 1978, which Kidwai won as Uttar Pradesh Congress chief, and which signalled a revival of the party's fortune after its spectacular defeat in the post-Emergency general elections of 1977. Written with the honesty and simplicity that have been her trademark in public life, this then is not just a memoir of a politician-it is an assessment of an entire era in Indian politics.

MOHSINA KIDWAI is a leader of the Indian National Congress. From Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, she has been a member of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, holding several offices in the Congress Working Committee as well as the All India Congress Committee. In the 1970s and 1980s, she served as union cabinet minister in several ministries including health and family welfare, transport, urban development and tourism.

RASHEED KIDWAI is a journalist, author, columnist and political analyst. He is a visiting fellow with the Observer Research Foundation. A former associate editor of the Telegraph, he is a graduate from St Stephen's College, New Delhi, and holds a master's degree in mass communications from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. He also contributes to numerous television channels, including CNN-News18, ABP News, NDTV, India Ahead News and India Today TV.

I HAVE DECIDED THAT NOW WHEN I have retired from active politics and have time at my disposal, I should pen down my life's journey. When I look back, I realize that I have gone through so many phases and experiences in the pace of time that require a relook, documentation and commentary. Gautam Budhha said, 'Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship', and I have been lucky to experience all of it.

But there are two major regrets in my life which I would like to mention. Much like my passion for badminton and singing, I wanted to attain higher education. Though I did go to the Aligarh Muslim University, I repent not opting for academic excellence. The second regret is more of a pang of guilt or conscience-that I did not look after my parents enough, though some would say I did a lot. I seek forgiveness from the Almighty on this count too.

My late husband, Khalil Ur Rahman Kidwai, was keen to assist me and kept me motivated to write. Alas, he is not around to see his wish finally get fulfilled. The 'directive' to pen my memoir kept coming from Seema, Farida and Irum, my daughters, who are my life to me. In fact, the list of those who kept compelling me is rather long. I would just like to say a big thank you from the bottom my heart.

I have lived through interesting, crucial and momentous times. In some ways, my story dating back to the pre-Independence day is also a tale of free India that faced insurmountable challenges, achieved far more than expected, yet remained a proverbial "glass half-full or half-empty'. All I can say is that it has been rather satisfactory to live through those moments and a delightfu experience to be writing them down.

For over six decades, I have been in public life. It's been like being a witness of the nation-making process, in which, my party the Indian National Congress (INC) was and is a catalyst. Essentially and fundamentally a nationalist and Congress leader, I have tried writing my autobiography, which I now happily present to the readers. Since 2014, the Congress may not have been at the helms of affairs at the Centre, but its commitment to democratic values remains awe-inspiring.

As a child, I was schooled in the ideas of and ideals set by our great freedom fighters and the first-generation leaders of independent India who guided the Congress' notions in governance. I joined politics to serve the society well and for ensuring the greater common good. At no point in my political career did I think of using power for meeting any personal goals. Looking back, I am extremely thankful to my family and friends who helped me sustain my resolve to keep to those pious elements of idealism and lead a selfless existence in political life.

India's former prime minister and the most decisive leader, Indira Gandhiji, inspired me immensely. I owe a deep sense of respect, for her in my individual capacity and as a citizen of India-for her cause-based politics in the national interest. She led from the front and set a benchmark for leadership in Indian politics. Since 1947, we have travelled a long way as a country.

SMT MOHSINA KIDWAI IS ONE of the Congress party's most senior and distinguished leaders. Beginning her involvement with public life by winning election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1960, aged just 28, she went on to dedicate her life to politics and public service. Becoming a member of the state legislative assembly and then the Lok Sabha, she rose to serve in senior cabinet positions first under Indira Gandhi and then under Rajiv Gandhi, gaining their trust through her tireless work at every level of the party. She continued to sit in the Rajya Sabha until well into her eighties, her age proving no barrier to her commitment and her active involvement in public service.

My Life in Indian Politics recounts her personal life as well as her fascinating career, from her early years in Barabanki to the scrappy battles of local politics to the corridors of power. I got to know Mohsinaji rather late in her political career, and at the (belated) start of mine, and found that her gentle, soft-spoken manner reflected: both her decency and her determination to ensure the right results! were achieved. All through her memoir, one is struck by the themes: that seem to consistently characterize Mohsina Kidwai's work!!! humility, dedication, integrity and a fierce determination to do ther right thing. Her identities are manifold: a staunch Congresswomar a loving mother of three daughters; a proud Muslim; and above al an Indian, dedicated to the well-being of her country.

A CURSORY LOOK AT THE ELECTED representatives to the Indian parliament reveals a telling yet largely glossed-over fact-barely twenty Muslim women have made it to the Lok Sabha so far, from among nearly 9,000 Members of Parliament (MPs) voted since 1951. Out of the seventeen Lok Sabhas constituted till May 2019, five times, the lower house of parliament did not have a Muslim women member. Equally shocking is the fact the number of Muslim women elected to parliament never crossed a mark of four in the 543-seat lower house of parliament.

According to noted French scholar Christophe Jaffrelot, Muslim women face a double bind-they are discriminated against both as women and as Muslims. His sentiments find echo in Gilles Verniers, a political science professor at Ashoka University, when he observed. In terms of cumulative discrimination-being a Muslim and being a woman-there is a compounding effect for sure. The usual barriers to entry that apply to all women, apply even more strongly to Muslim women."

Mohsina Kidwai, hailing from a conservative, aristocratic Muslim family of Avadh, holds a distinction of winning in Lok Sabha thrice-in 1978, 1980 and 1984. Her parliamentary credentials are remarkable, having won from Azamgarh (the Lok Sabha bypoll which marked the great comeback of Indira Gandhi) in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Meerut in the western side of the state. Anyone remotely connected with the socio-economic conditions of Uttar Pradesh and caste matrix, or observing the related fundamentals, would vouch that finding acceptability in these two diverse regions is a rather insurmountable task. In addition, during the course of her long and illustrious political life spanning from 1960 to 2016, she was elected to Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Legislative Council and the Rajya Sabha, besides serving as the chairperson of up congress and cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh Congress government.

In the list of women Lok Sabha MPs such as Sajda Ahmed, Mamtaz Sanghamita, Nusrat Jahan, Masoomnoor, Noor Begum, Kaisar Jahan, Tabbasum Begum, Begum Abida Ahmad, Begum Akbar Jahan, Mahbooba Mufti, Rubab Syeda, Mofida Ahmed, Maimuna Sultan, Chavda Zohraben Akarbai, Nafisa Ali and Rance Narah, Mohsina Kidwai holds unique distinction, not only in terms of duration spent in office as the elected representative, but the high positions she held in Indira and Rajiv Gandhi's cabinets. At one point in 1987, Rajiv Gandhi had toyed with the idea of making Mohsina Kidwai Vice President of the Republic. She was sounded but the quest to serve as a public representative reportedly prevailed upon her, and she did not accept the high office. The post went to another illustrious son of India, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, who rose to serve as president.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages