Readers tell us whether Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha should quit Rajya Sabha or not
Sachin Tendulkar? Absent, sir. Rekha? Not present, sir. Big brother? Watching, sir.
In the din of Parliament, these two celebrity MPs have been conspicuous with their absence.
The matter became more pronounced after Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Agarwal on March 30, raised the issue of nominated members being absent from the House proceedings.
The SP leader asked the chair can nominated members of Rajya Sabha - like cricket legend and everybody’s favourite Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood veteran Rekha - continue to remain absent from the House.
"If they are not coming, does it mean they are not interested and if they are not interested, shouldn't they resign?" asked Agarwal.
To that, deputy chairman PJ Kurien said it was not possibly a point of order.
He added that Agarwal could use his good office to convince nominated members to be present in the House for few days.
Agarwal reportedly is planning to write to these members and persuade them to attend the House.
While Tendulkar’s attendance in Parliament in the past five years has been only 8 per cent, Rekha managed to score an even worse 5 per cent. The actor reportedly has not participated in any debates in the House and not asked a single question in the past five years.
When reporters went to Tendulkar seeking his reaction, he ignored the questions, saying it was not the right platform to talk about it (he was at the launch of his personal app called 100 MB).
There are almost 12 distinguished persons from the field of knowledge, science art and social service nominated to the Upper House.
In the past two days, the clamour over absentee nominated MPs have grown with others joining in the debate. Senior journalist and former Rajya Sabha nominated
MP HK Dua said members like Rekha and Sachin should not feel happy about the situation. "They should not have accepted the responsibility," he said.
BJP leader Chandan Mitra said MPs demeaned the President of India who had nominated them by bringing the Upper House to disrepute by their behaviour.
Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Chandrashekhar said nomination of eminent personalities was an honour that the President and the people of the country give to someone. He said he doesn't demand resignation of the absentee nominated MPs but that they should come to the House more often.
But not everyone agreed with Agarwal. Bollywood lyricist and former nominated Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar said Rekha and Sachin might have been "arm-twisted" to accept the nomination.
"They would have been told that there was no need to participate. People are forced to accept such positions," he said, adding that political parties which nominated them should be questioned.
The lack of attendance of nominated members has been a matter of criticism in the past as well. Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar and the late painter MF Hussain as nominated Rajya Sabha members also had unimpressive record.
Even though we love our celebs, do we not expect them to be a bit more regular in the House and raise some important issues on the common man’s behalf? When we asked our readers, this is what they had to say.
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| DailyO readers weigh in. |
DailyO readers weigh in:
Jay Kishore: Yes, they should. I am great fan of Sachin sir. But I think he should resign and give it to some other athlete who can give his time to Rajya Sabha.
Ashley Ash: Let them be. All politicians are useless. At least these two are respected celebrities and did some work for the society in their respective fields.
Ranjin Rao: Yes, they should resign and give that opportunity to someone who can deliver. When they were nominated as Rajya Sabha members the whole country welcomed the move, but now it seems they insulted that gesture. If they are not interested they shouldn't have accepted it. Anyway, others too should get this opportunity and I think only Rahul Dravid and Akshay Kumar should replace them.
Bmwthangavel: They never asked for it (the MP post). They couldn't find time. Why do the BJP and Cong offer MP post to celebs? Mad people.
Sulekha Patkar: No, they should not. They must attend Rajya Sabha. It's an honour to both of them given by the government.
Antonio Fady: Yes, definitely resign. What contribution have they made? We Indians are very emotional. For example, we say Sachin played for the nation… but he played only for money and fame and earned it. Period.
Shekhar Seatolay: Rajya Sabha seats should go to regular people, social reformers who live among people, teachers, doctors, lawyers who did well in their profession... this celebrity circus and dynastic slavery seems to never leave India.
Shivan Persie: Yes, they are right. Why should India waste money and two seats in the Rajya Sabha. They have done nothing so far. Sachin is called the god of cricket, but he didn't speak anything about development of sports in the country.
Manjeet Kaur: Why they should resign? They were chosen (to be nominated) to Rajya Sabha, now some of those people don’t want the two anymore. This is just not done.
RK Maiti: They are much bigger personalities than any other Rajya Sabha member. I think they must quit and join an NGO to serve the people. That will be better for them.
Vijay Sharma: Parliament is a place to enact laws and represent people to make country a better place. MP positions shouldn't be given as rewards to anyone like artists, filmmakers, sportspersons etc.
Anjan Dutta: In the first place, it was a mistake to make them MPs. They should have resigned long back.
Varun Reddy: They should resign, or attend. Nothing is more important than national duty.
Uday Kiran: I totally agree they should resign as quickly as possible. There are many others things for them to do.
Ripudaman Verma: Yes, they should resign. Parliament is not a joke. If u can't attend it, please resign and vacate the seat for someone who is serious about it.