Rajya Sabha debate: Are we angry because it is Sachin?

Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and actor Rekha were nominated to the Rajya Sabha yesterday but while almost nothing was said about Rekha’s nomination, a huge controversy has been created around the master batsman’s decision to accept the nomination.

Now, there are some quarters that are saying that the Congress has managed a coup by getting Sachin to accept their nomination but then a whole other group is wondering: Why now?

One of India’s finest cricket writers, Ayaz Memon, however, can’t understand what the fuss is all about.

“At the end of the day, we don’t know whether he is right for the job. We’ve seen him bat and he does that brilliantly well. He’s certainly done enough to in his field to deserve the nomination,” said Ayaz. “There are people who have said that he has no political ideology. But do we really know? Why don’t we give him a chance?”

Ayaz also believes that this might be a well thought-out plan.

“This might be when we start getting an inkling of what his exit plan looks like but that aside, I think half the ruckus is because he is Sachin Tendulkar. He is news-worthy. As simple as that,” he said.

“If it was Rahul Dravid or Sourav Ganguly, it wouldn’t have mattered so much for sure. But then the really important bit is to see what he does with the Rs 2 crores that he gets every year. He can help the Mumbai School Sports Association or even University cricket. If he can put that to good use, then that’s that. Nothing else should matter.”

Perhaps part of the anger also stems from the fact that he just seems to get everything – it falls into his lap. Others haven’t been as fortunate.

“At some level, it may be about people believing that he gets everything easily. Runs, medals, honours, fame and now even a seat in the Rajya Sabha. Maybe they are just jealous.”

Even the likes of MF Hussain and Lata Mangeshkar have been part of the Rajya Sabha and it wasn’t as if they were shouting their lungs out. But they were there for a purpose and it wasn’t political.