The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday gave a warm send-off to 54 members who retired amid recollection of some nostalgic moments and experiences. Some members made suggestions, including better utilisation of Parliament time, as they bade goodbye to the Upper House after remaining member for six years.
“...Today, we bid farewell to some of our colleagues, who are retiring in the months of April and May this year on completion of their term of office,” Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said. Fifty-four members from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be completing their term of office. Fifteen of the retiring members have been re-elected. “I am happy to note that some of the members have been re-elected, but the House will certainly miss those who would not be coming back,” Ansari said.
Addressing the retiring members, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “As I listen to farewell speeches, I do get a feeling that there is something uniting us regardless of caste, class and religion... I join all other colleagues in bidding farewell. I wish them best of luck.” He hoped that whatever they do next, they will have successful innings. Singh also said that retiring members will be entering a different phase of life and their experience would be of immense help in their public life.
leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said some of the members will not be coming back to the House and hoped they will continue to contribute through their public lives. The senior BJP leader recalled that there may be political differences, but members were rarely seen clashing at individual level.
CPI(M) member Sitaram Yechury said irrespective of political differences, the members have tried best to maintain dignity of the Upper House. He said many of the retiring members would enter lok Sabha after the general elections. Some of the retiring members include BJP’s Prakash Javadekar, Bharat Kumar Raut of Shiv Sena, Renu Bala (BJD), Barun Mukherji (AIFB) and A A Jinnah (DMK), Janardhan Waghmare (NCP) and JD (U) leader Shivanand Tiwari.
Naresh Agrawal (SP) said in politics nothing is permanent and hoped the outgoing members would keep serving the country at other fora. V Maitreyan (AIADMK), TM Selvaganapathi (DMK), Ali Anwar Ansari (JD-U), Shashi Bhusan Behera (BJD), YS Chowdary (TDP) and Balwinder Singh Bhunder(SAD) also spoke on the occasion.