Rajya Sabha saw rare bonhomie on Thursday when the Elders bid farewell to three retired MPs including P Rajeeve (CPM), MP Achutan (CPI) and Vyalar Ravi (Congress). Members engaged in banter with each other and urged Sitaram Yechury, newly-appointed CPM general secretary, to bring back Rajeeve to the Upper House. In a lighter vein, leader of the House Arun Jaitley said it was good for the Government that Rajeeve had retired as he always grilled the Treasury Benches with sharp questions based on facts.
Incidentally, the House held this ceremony though the three MPs had already retired recently. While Rajeeve and Achutan could not take part in the farewell on the floor of the House, they savoured the moment while sitting in the Visitors Gallery. The six-year term of Rajeeve, Achutan and Vyalar Ravi came to an end on April 21 but as the Rajya Sabha was prorogued and did not meet on its earlier scheduled date of April 20, they exited the Upper House without a traditional formal farewell. It was held on Thursday which was the first day of the new Session of Rajya Sabha. Incidentally, Ravi was re-elected and took oath when the House met.
Setting the tone, Jaitley said Rajeeve was very thorough with his home work and always came well prepared for debates. He was “extremely serious” with nearly total attendance and industrious in “digging out procedure and rules of debates in the House and kept the ruling benches on their toes.” The leader of the House then remarked that it is good for the Government that Rajeeve has retired and the Treasury Benches have one opposition less to contend with. Jaitley asked Yechury to consider getting Rajeeve elected again to the Upper House and this plea was backed by all the other speakers.
leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said Rajeeve was an “encyclopedia of rules” and, in a jocular vein, said he wanted his iPad so that the Congress leader could benefit from all his research on rules and procedures. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu hailed Rajeeve as a “very articulate” politician and said one should feel jealous that such an intelligent person is a CPM member. Yechury responded by saying that since Rajeeve is very intelligent and articulate, he is in the CPM and the entire House had a good laugh.
While urging Yechury to bring back Rajeeve to the House, Naresh Gujral(Akali Dal) said if the CPM cannot do so, the Government should nominate the former MP to the Rajya Sabha leading to another bout of banter. Derek O’Brien (TMC) said he was standing by choice and not by compulsion to bid farewell to someone from a party who “we may dispel and hate each other’s philosophy.” Ramgopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party), Navneet Krishnan (AIADMK) and T Shiva(DMK) also paid tributes to Rajeeve.
Responding to the popular appeal made by members from all sides, Yechury said his party followed certain rules and procedures and Rajeeve was given greater responsibilities in Kerala which goes to polls next year. Communists, he said, are generally referred to as anarchists, slogan shouters and someone against development, but Rajeeve contributed to progress of the country and its democracy. His renomination “will be considered very seriously,” the CPM leader said.