Tendulkar appointed as MP

[Cricketman]

The Indian president has approved Sachin Tendulkar's nomination to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament. Tendulkar met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and was offered a seat in the upper house's nominated category. He accepted the offer and his name went from the prime minister's office to the home ministry, and then the office of the President, who formally approved the candidature.

India news: Sachin Tendulkar nominated to Parliament | Cricket News | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

A bit shocking personally. Never saw him as the type of guy who would join politics! How is he going to manage cricket and being a member of parliament? Is this one of the first signals towards his retirement?

 

[puddleduck]

I love how a man who has spent since the age of 17 playing cricket is apparently qualified to go straight into Parliament.

Either highlights how much politicians exaggerate their own importance. Or just how corrupt it all is

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Reading a bit more about it, and it seems to me that whatever it is he's been elected to is a complete waste of time. Nothing more than a PR machine that uses famous faces to attempt to deflect from things like policy.

 

[6ry4nj]

I love how a man who has spent since the age of 17 playing cricket is apparently qualified to go straight into Parliament.

Either highlights how much politicians exaggerate their own importance. Or just how corrupt it all is

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Reading a bit more about it, and it seems to me that whatever it is he's been elected to is a complete waste of time. Nothing more than a PR machine that uses famous faces to attempt to deflect from things like policy.

Basically the House of Lords then?

 

[puddleduck]

Pretty much. Except no one listens to them at all.

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... and I don't think you'll find Ian Botham being offered a spot

 

[pcfan123]

He can be the next Jesse the Body Ventura

 

[puddleduck]

Sachin "the little master" Tendulkar?

Not got as good a ring as Jesse's though In Fighting Talk style, let's turn this into a question worth answering.

Which sports star would you like to see given political power and why?

One to start us off then... hmmm.... I'll go with a cricket one as well.

Andy Flower in charge of the coalition so that relationships can start to blossom again?

hmm...

Maybe with the potential of a double dip recession, it might be a good idea to get a new finance minister to try and increase the bank balance? I nominate Salman Butt.

One more... it won't be funny either

Also, there's a lot of talk about the immigration laws being too lax, so I think we need a foreign minister who can clamp down and show no mercy. Clearly has to be John Terry with Suarez as shadow minister.

 

[SaiSrini]

India news: Sachin Tendulkar nominated to Parliament | Cricket News | Global | ESPN Cricinfo

A bit shocking personally. Never saw him as the type of guy who would join politics! How is he going to manage cricket and being a member of parliament? Is this one of the first signals towards his retirement?

Its just like M.F. Hussain (famous painter) and Lata Mangeshkar (Bollywood singer) being given Rajya Sabha posts before. They never got involved in the proceedings. It looks like an attempt by the ruling party (i.e. Congress) to win the vote bank comprising Sachin's huge followers.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Sairsini has hit nail on its head. Its a PR stunt, nothing more.

 

[pcfan123]

the vote bank comprising Sachin's huge followers.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

 

[Cool King111990]

Is he nominated in the Lokh Sabha or the Raj Sabha?

 

[sribabu]

Already, Sachin took almost a year to score a hundred. The year 2012 hasn't started nice for him. The MP Seat was probably a birthday gift. Hope, he finishes cricket and remain an happy man.

 

[Sureshot]

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Indeedy. There was a case in of our recent elections where two contenders had equal votes, after a recount, etc. So how did they choose who got elected? They picked straws!

I'd love to say:

Welcome to democracy

In response to this thread, but it'd be pure irony as our system is just as bad, especially when the public get a chance to change that and vote against it (which was made more amusing by the opposition party against the voting system change, because they use said voting system in their own party voting that they were opposing on a public basis, the people got duped and they're too thick to see it.)

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

the other joke was they didn't even offer proportional representation, which is clearly the fairest system and what the lib dems wanted, because it would be too hard to run a convincing "NO" campaign against.

the AV thing was a wishy washy compromise. democracy is a bit of a joke when you combine regional representation with party politics. you're voting for a guy that will be told what to do by other guys, but you have no say in who the other guys are.

 

[Sureshot]

Absolutely, AV wasn't right, PR is the way to go, but it was better than what we had. People got conned by the Tories and got told a stackful of lies.

 

[puddleduck]

got told a stackful of lies.

That doesn't sound like politics