Naresh Aggarwal, a Samajwadi Party MP in Uttar Pradesh, recently spoke about the absence of celebrities from the Rajya Sabha proceedings. Mentioning cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and popular actors and actresses among others, the Member of Parliament talked about the lack of attendance of people who are already successful in “other fields.”
Stating that their non-political career gives them an opportunity “to have a say in the democratic process”, it is sad that they are rarely present in the Parliamentry sessions. Aggarwal’s exact words were “hum taras rahein hain unhe dekhne ke liye, woh aate hi nahin hain” and said that it shows their lack of interest in the proceedings.
While the Rajya Sabha Speaker shut down his complaint by saying that it isn’t an “official point of order”, his issue is still valid. Just taking Sachin’s attendance into account it was 13 percent in 2016 and at this year’s Budget session it has been 5 percent.
