Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE NEW INNING Sachin nominated as Rajya Sabha MP. will he be a match winner?

By Firoz.T.Totanawala 

 The Bangalore Metro Reporter

 

THE NEW INNING  

Sachin nominated as Rajya Sabha MP. will he be a match winner?

The cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha and it has evoked mixed responses ranging from extreme appreciation to outright condemnation. There are demands that the ‘nominations’ should be scrapped altogether. If making Sachin, a MP is a token of appreciation, then nobody could have any objections except on the ground that many other great sportsmen or women and senior to Sachin, would have been nominated, instead… 

 One does not understand why Sachin Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha which is known as House of Elders. Sachin is not even 40 years and how one can imagine him to be fit enough to enter the house of elders? Sachin who is still playing active cricket is definitely not a fit choice. 

 Of course, there is a provision to nominate twelve eminent people who have excelled in their field and served the country in their own way to the Rajya Sabha. These are great and eminent people who do not stand a chance in the electoral politics. It was with a view to use their services to the betterment of the country, they are nominated to the RS. 

 Over the years, the RS nominations have become a farce as it has become a sort of political rehabilitation to the ‘defeated’ politicians. Truly, the successive governments at the centre have nominated their sympathisers or defeated leaders to the RS. The nominations to the RS were mainly with a view to use the talents and expertise of eminent people both in the running of the government and for high standards in parliamentary debates in the house of elders. In fact, the RS is called the house of elders for having people who have age and experience in their particular field, behind them. During the last three decades the house of elders has become irrelevant as young politicians belonging to dynastic politicians were made RS members from Assembly constituencies. In fact, RS has become the rehabilitation centre for defeated, devalued and disgraced politicians. 

 And the same story is reflected in the RS nominations. Among them the film personalities take the cake. Though many cine artists have won the elections to the Loksabha and some of them have functioned as Ministers too, but some, who were averse to elections, were nominated. In fact, they played a major role in government formulating policies in the field of art and culture. 

 Apparently, the government nominates great musicians - singers to the RS as a token of appreciation to their services and utilising their expertise. But, most often than not, the contribution of these ‘nominated’ great is a big zero. Whatsoever, the nomination of Sachin to the RS, is but an ill conceived move. On an average, cricket consumes around 300 days in a year. And as far as Sachin is concerned, he is running the show for the last 23 years and will at least play for 2 more years. His ardent fans and even a section of the media call him ‘God of Cricket’! Last years itself, there was a clamour for awarding ‘Bharata Ratna’ to him and at the eleventh hour, the move was dropped. Even now there is persistent demand for Bharata Ratna to Sachin. 

 It is true that Sachin was in trouble when he had insulted the Indian flag. There is a criminal case pending against him. Last year, Sachin insulted the Indian Flag again during the ‘Victory run’ after the World Cup Victory. Sachin was seen trampling the Indian Flag. Except excelling in cricket and earning hundreds of crores through commercialising his cricket achievements, there is no other laudable service rendered to the country by Sachin to make him eligible for RS nominations. 

 Whatsoever, the RS seat will be only a ‘decorative piece’ to Sachin. He may not find time to attend the RS session let alone participating in debate. Lata Mangeshkar who was nominated to the RS attended the oath taking and never attended a single session. And Sachin may follow suit. 

 Of course, the provision for nominating ‘eminent’ people to the RS is earmarked for people who excelled or contributed much in the field of Art, culture, science and social service. And Sachin will not come under any of these categories. If the government wants to recognise ‘sports’ in the RS, there are many very senior sportsmen and women who deserve the RS seat more than Sachin. If cricket is to be rewarded, there is Sunil Gavaskar or G.R.Viswanath. If the athletics was to be preferred, then there is the Golden Girl P.T.Usha. There are scores of such examples. Viswanathan Anand, Vijay Amritraj etc. etc.? 

 Arguably, one can be sure of Sachin not doing justice to the RS membership. Then, do we need to ‘honour’ such people with RS seat? 

That is all.