The Rajya Sabha on Friday bid farewell to three MPs including Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Parvez Hashmi. All the three MPs will retire later this month and represented Delhi. Members from the Opposition and ruling benches praised the contributions made the three leaders in the Upper House and hoped they will continue to serve the nation.
In his farewell speech, Singh,87, who served stints in both the houses since 1952, lamented the fact that debates were “rarer now” and “disruptions more frequent.” He urged parliamentarians to introspect. Interspersing his speech with ‘shlokas’ and ‘shers(couplets),’ the former head of state of Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said he had the privilege of interacting with all the Prime Ministers right from Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi.
While they had different ideologies, all the Prime Ministers in a way were engaged in the “exciting adventure of building a new India as envisaged by Nehru,” he said. Having seen Parliament as a minister and an opposition member, Singh urged the elected representatives to uphold and be faithful to constitutional and civilisational values of the country.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu quipped that Singh has seen public life as a “raja” and mantri.” Moreover, Dwivedi’s journey was from a “reader to leader,” he remarked. Dwivedi was a professor of Hindi in Dehi University. Hashmi was not present in the House.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recalled his interactions with Singh and Dwivedi. The Minister said in Karan Singh, he saw a ‘philospher King,’ as envisaged by Aristotle. Showering praise on Dwivedi, he said the Congress leader acted actively in promoting Hindi in a simple and easy way.
Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said his veteran party colleague Karan Singh had become the Head of State of Jammu and Kashmir at the age of 18 years and was probably the youngest person in the world to be elected such a post. Despite being born in royal family and holding high political posts, Singh never touched liquor, cigarettes or even ‘paan’ throughout his life and always remained humble, Azad said.
Dwivedi, who completed three terms as a Rajya Sabha MP, said generally farewell became like an “obituary reference” but it was different on Friday. He said he had spent 57 years in politics ever since he entered Allahabad University in 1960-61. The Congress leader said he had a great respect and regard for those who were born in poor families and emerged as successful persons, as also for the ordinary party workers who become big leaders.