Rajya Sabha bids farewell to 72 retiring MPs; PM Narendra Modi tells them to 'inspire coming generations'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the retiring 72 Rajya Sabha MPs to take their experience across the country.

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday bid an emotional farewell to 72 members, including A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh and Subramanian Swamy, whose terms are coming to an end, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging them to take their experience across the country.

The terms of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the Upper House are coming to an end as well. However, they are likely to be re-elected.

Members cutting across party lines shared memories of their retiring colleagues and hoped that they would return to the House. While most MPs were emotional, there were some lighter moments as well.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the lawmakers to desist from disrupting law-making bodies while upholding the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people, while Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge emphasised that the numbers on the Opposition benches may be less, but they have strength in their argument.

Sixty-five speakers, including those who are retiring, shared their experiences. The speakers included the chairman, the Prime Minister, the deputy chairman, the leader of the opposition, the floor leaders of nine other parties, 11 other members and 40 retiring Members. In the end, Goyal, who is the leader of the House, responded to the day-long proceedings. 

A total of 72 Rajya Sabha MPs, including seven nominated members, are retiring between March and July, which is one-third of the strength of the House. Among them, some may return to the Rajya Sabha.

The retiring members represent 19 states. Those retiring also include Ambika Soni, Kapil Sibal, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, MC Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav.

Chidambaram, Patel and Sibal were not present in the House when the Prime Minister, the chairman and the leader of the opposition spoke in the morning session. In his speech, Modi emphasised that experience has more power than knowledge and the MPs should take it forward in the service of the nation.

"We may be moving out of these four walls, but we should take this experience from here to all the four directions in the best interests of the country," he said. He told the retiring members to come to the House again and to pen down their experiences. "I would want you to put in words the memories gained here to help serve as a reference point for the coming generations," PM Modi said.

The House and the nation feel the loss and some sort of shortcomings in decision making for the coming generations when experienced colleagues retire, he added. "When experienced people retire, a lot would be said about them in the House, but the responsibility of those remaining increases. The members who remain have to take forward the tales of experience left behind by those retiring," PM Modi said.

Naidu asked the lawmakers to be propelled by "passion, performance and procedural integrity" and desist from disrupting law-making bodies, while upholding the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people.

He called upon them to ensure that the expectations and aspirations of people are incorporated in designing laws and policies. Naidu also voiced concern over the House having lost more than 35 per cent of the functional time due to disruptions since 2017.

Kharge said after listening to the Prime Minister and the other members, "I realised how important the Rajya Sabha is." "The Upper House is a chamber of ideas and a house of intellectuals from varied fields. Ex-chief ministers, ex-prime ministers and many ministers are part of the House. We have gained from their experience," he said.

"The numbers on the Opposition benches may be less, but they have strength in their argument. The problem is that arguments are not considered, but voices are counted. This is what Atalji had said, not me," he recalled. Goyal expressed gratitude to Naidu and former president late Pranab Mukherjee for motivating him when he was first elected to the Upper House in 2010.

"Retirement certainly is a time of mixed feelings and we will miss the contributions of all our esteemed colleagues who may not come back," he said. Deputy Chairman Harivansh expressed confidence that the retiring members, through their pubic engagement, would continue to work to increase the confidence of citizens and students in politics and parliamentary democracy.

Congress leader Anand Sharma, who too is retiring, said he never trooped to the Well of the House during his entire tenure. He also said he never used impolite words in his speeches and no word of his was ever expunged from the House records.

Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress said he would tell his grandchildren that when he was in Parliament, there were two former prime ministers -- Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda -- and the Prime Minister was Narendra Modi.

DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said farewell moments are "always emotional and painful". "I would only like to say one thing to my colleagues who are retiring...This is not the end of the road, only a bend," he said.

Recollecting that Sharma often used to borrow a pen from him, Siva said, "Yesterday, he told me that he won't be asking for a pen from tomorrow." Naidu talked about his earlier days when he and former Union minister Jaipal Reddy often used to borrow pens from their fellow lawmakers. "Later, I found out that whenever both of us were moving towards them, many of the members would hide their pens," he said.