Absentee issue rocks both Houses

Among the long list of celebrities who are not known to make good parliamentarians, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and film star Rekha, both Rajya Sabha MPs, were roundly criticised on Friday for their continued absence from Parliament.

Barring exceptions such as Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, BJP MP Kirron Kher and lyricist and Rajya Sabha MP Javed Akhtar, those from the film world have, by and large, dismal records in Parliament. The record of attendance of Govinda, Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha has been extremely poor, and so too their participation in debates. In fact, when Shatrughan Sinha was Health and Family Welfare Minister in the Vajpayee Cabinet, he had to be reminded to be present in the Lok Sabha by then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Budget discussion Recently, when the BJP asked its MPs to be present in the House during the Budget discussion, most of its actor-turned-politicians ignored the whip. As many as 30 MPs were reportedly missing during passage of the Appropriation Bill and demands for grants. In the list prepared by party Chief Whip Arjun Meghwal, himself a disciplined parliamentarian — having participated in over 400 debates in the 15{+t}{+h} Lok Sabha — absentees reportedly included Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini and Vinod Khanna.

Although it is not clear whether any disciplinary action was taken against the absentees, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it quite clear that such a casual attitude will not be tolerated. MPs’ performance is being carefully examined and they have also been asked not to go on any foreign jaunts “whether official or unofficial” when Parliament is in session.

Although the Prime Minister’s directive does not extend to nominated MPs in the Rajya Sabha, their peers took up the issue of their absence rather forcefully on Friday. The criticism was levelled by a group of parliamentarians, with the CPI(M)’s P Rajeev being the most vocal.

“If they are absent for 60 days, their seat should be vacated,” Rajeev said.

However, Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari dismissed the Left’s MP’s suggestion, saying: “No violation of the Constitution has occurred.”

Till now, Tendulkar has attended Parliament for three days, while Rekha has been present for seven days. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said action can be taken against members only if they have remained absent for at least 60 days.

Constitutional provision “As per Article 104 of the Constitution, if a member is absent from either House of Parliament for 60 days, the seat is considered vacant. In the case of Sachin Tendulkar, he has not attended the Parliament for 40 days, whereas Rekha’s absence is less than this,” he observed. Kurien said Tendulkar was nominated to the Upper House in April 2012 and attended the session for three days.

Criticising both the members, lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar said: “membership of Parliament is not a trophy that you can take and just walk away. Sachin should come to Parliament.”

Congress’ Rajeev Shukla was rather defensive, pointing out that both Tendulkar and Rekha had not availed themselves of any privilege as MPs. They were nominated to the Upper House in the UPA’s tenure. He, however, said “they should attend Parliament more frequently.”

“I think Sachin should attend Parliament. When he was playing cricket, he never missed a practice, so now that he has retired, so should come,” the BJP’s Kirti Azad said.

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