MP Sachin

First of all, congratulations to SRT on getting nominated for Rajya Sabhi seat. I do hope it is nothing related to appearing for election and winning the seat in Parliament. Rajya Sabha has entirely different criterion. That he has accepted the offer doesn't mean he would be into active politics, atleast not till he is playing.

Personally, I feel, whether he should join politics or not, that is entirely his own decision. Who and why are we making so much fuss about it? Whether he uses his MP credentials for the sport or not is to be seen. But then considering his love for sport, he might do something atleast, when he is not playing. Rest is best left to future.

Now there have been many Indians (mostly those who oppose his selection) who have been saying that he shouldn't have been selected in first place as he has done nothing good for the sports, or even for cricket, neither has he shown any concern for people in India by way of investing in poor people's resurrection, etc. But, they are conveniently ignoring the fact that he has been actively involved in funding education and accommodation of 1000 poor students through "Apnalaya". It is always a personal choice which institution or organisation or NGO to choose for public welfare and he has chosen the one which is run by his mother-in-law. However, the fact remains that he is care-taker in a way for those children and he is involved actively in promoting education to these under-privileged kids.

Thereafter, talking about working for sports, he has been the one in forefront in resurrecting Indian cricket (along with Ganguly-Dravid-Kumble) in the match-fixing era. He had been the face of Indian cricket and brought back glory to the game. And, if I am not wrong, I haven't see any player (atleast in India) who has his own academy even while himself playing for the country. The academy structure is used by the retired players only. Sunil Gavaskar is yet to build his academy on the piece of ground allotted to him by the Government, and he has retired 24-25 years back. So till the time SRT is playing, I am not sure he would be actively involved in anything related to prominent sports promotion.

We all have been confusing his MP stature with active politics which, we feel, includes rallying for parties for election, giving speeches, taking bribes and getting involved in multi-billion scams. Sachin's MP selection has nothing to do with all this. He may choose to support any party and rally for elections. But, mere his selection as MP doesn't warrant his active participation in politics unless he decides to. He has categorically specified that he is not getting involved in politics, atleast not till he is playing. He has always maintained distance with politicians and stayed away from any controversy, even remotely related to politics.

He may or may not find time for visiting Rajya Sabha and fighting for sports world in India. But understand one thing. Many of the current RS members who are celebrities, also have not regularly visited RS and fought for the things they ought to. So who knows, when he retires (whenever he feels so), he might be regular visitor (travelling from Mumbai to Delhi) and then we might expect him to do what he is expected to do so.

So till then, just relax and let him do what he wants. We may have treated him as GOD of Cricket, but he has a personal life of which only he can decide. You can worship him, not order him to do things in life.