![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/kk.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Till date our Indian politicians dwell on sheer politics in their memoirs and autobiographies. And with that, the family is kept in the background, but Mohsina Kidwai seems to have\u00a0 broken this trend. A book review by Humra Quraishi<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Just read and re-read this book by the veteran political figure, Mohsina Kidwai. An account of her life and times. This recently launched book is not just off beat and refreshingly different but relays that there is more to a political personality than politics. The spouse and children and the extended family is also of immense significance as they do play a role, directly or indirectly.<\/p>\n Till date our Indian politicians dwell on sheer politics in their memoirs and autobiographies. And with that, the family is kept in the background, but Mohsina\u00a0 Kidwai seems to have\u00a0 broken this trend.<\/p>\n Of course, she\u00a0 has dwelt\u00a0 on her\u00a0 political\u00a0 journey, starting off way\u00a0 back in 1960,\u00a0 but\u00a0 webbed and in-webbed\u00a0 are the\u00a0 details to her\u00a0 family, especially\u00a0 her three daughters and their children and spouses.<\/p>\n Also, what comes across is\u00a0 not\u00a0 just Mohsina\u00a0 Kidwai\u2019s loyalty\u00a0 to the\u00a0 Congress party\u00a0 but also\u00a0 to the\u00a0 Gandhi family. As she details her interactions with the late Indira Gandhi, she also focuses on those several instances where Indira Gandhi was there for her. Space constraints hold me back from writing details to several such occasions.<\/p>\n Let\u00a0 me put\u00a0 in details\u00a0 to one such instance, \u201c\u00a0 My\u00a0 election as a\u00a0 MP\u00a0 meant\u00a0 I\u00a0 had to make \u00a0frequent trips to\u00a0 Delhi. On one such trip I had to attend a public\u00a0 meeting for a\u00a0 municipal by- election, accompanied by\u00a0 party\u00a0 leaders,\u00a0 Balram\u00a0 Jakhar and\u00a0 Buta\u00a0 Singh. I had just begun speaking when someone hurled a stone on my forehead, splitting the skin open. I was rushed to the Wellington Hospital by my colleagues and party workers. Five stitches were needed to sew up the wound.<\/p>\n Indira Gandhi left work to visit me in the hospital. She told me this was the beginning and that there would be more challenges ahead as Congress proceeded on its comeback trail. Indiraji\u00a0 dialled my\u00a0 Lucknow\u00a0 number and spoke to my eldest daughter\u00a0 Seema, explaining patiently\u00a0 to her what had happened\u2026She also specifically\u00a0 told\u00a0 Seema not to\u00a0 panic\u00a0 seeing my\u00a0 blood smeared\u00a0 picture in the\u00a0 next\u00a0 morning\u2019s\u00a0 newspapers\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also this passage, where Mohsina describes her last meeting with Indira\u00a0 Gandhi. \u201cOn 25 October 1984, I met Indiraji for the last time\u00a0 before her\u00a0 assassination. I had gone to discuss some\u00a0 political\u00a0 issues with her about\u00a0 Meerut (\u00a0 my\u00a0 parliamentary\u00a0 constituency in 1980 )\u00a0 and remember something that\u00a0 occurred to me\u00a0 just\u00a0 as I was about to\u00a0 leave the room. \u2018Indiraji, I am not sure if I should tell you this,\u2019\u00a0 I told her, \u2018but on your\u00a0 recent\u00a0 visit to Lucknow. I noticed you have a\u00a0 lot of\u00a0 new faces in your\u00a0 security. Please becareful, Indiraji.\u2019<\/p>\n Indiraji had smiled, \u2018 Mohsina\u00a0 I have\u00a0 immense faith in my country and in its\u00a0 people and\u00a0 I am absolutely sure from the\u00a0 bottom of\u00a0 my\u00a0 heart that they will never\u00a0 let me down,\u2019\u00a0 she said.\u201d<\/p>\n Title of the book\u2013 \u2018My Life In\u00a0 Indian Politics- Mohsina\u00a0 Kidwai<\/p>\n as told to\u00a0 Rasheed Kidwai\u2019<\/p>\n Authors\u00a0 –\u00a0 Mohsina\u00a0 Kidwai and\u00a0 Rasheed\u00a0 Kidwai<\/p>\n Publishers –\u00a0 HarperCollins\u00a0 Publishers\u00a0 India<\/p>\n Pages\u00a0 –\u00a0 261<\/p>\n Price\u00a0 –\u00a0 Rs 699<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Till date our Indian politicians dwell on sheer politics in their memoirs and autobiographies. And with that, the family is kept in the background, but Mohsina Kidwai seems to have\u00a0 broken this trend. A book review by Humra Quraishi Just read and re-read this book by the veteran political figure, Mohsina Kidwai. An account of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[650,23,2205],"tags":[15812,15813],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340653,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340651\/revisions\/340653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/340652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}