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Journalism of Courage
The melody queen is hitting some rather discordant notes. Indignant that her protracted absence from Rajya Sabha is eliciting condemnation from fellow MPs, Lata Mangeshkar has struck back. A day after Shabana Azmi registered protest over her poor attendance, Mangeshkar cannot understand what the fuss is all about. She says she cannot fathom the roots of Azmi’s ire. After all, when she was nominated by the president to the House of Elders, she had conveyed her inability to grace the domed precincts of India’s democracy with her unwavering presence, hadn’t she?
Trouble is, Mangeshkar confuses her membership of Rajya Sabha with one of the countless trophies on her sagging shelves, indeed even with her Bharat Ratna. A nominated seat in the Upper House is not simply a “prestigious position”, as she has called it — it is a responsibility conferred on a dozen citizens who have achieved excellence in their chosen fields and who, it is felt, could enrich legislative proceedings with their experience. It is as much of an honour as it is a duty. It is being argued that as precious a national treasure as India’s Nightingale would be sullied by the mudslinging that routinely binds parliamentary proceedings. That summary denigration of the highest law-making body in the land may be contentious, but surely one of the reasons eminent citizens are invited to Parliament is to nudge legislators away from rigid political posturing — to enable them to take a wider view.
Lata Mangeshkar must be a very busy lady. Indeed, she sought permission to skip the entire winter session of Parliament last year citing prior commitments — one of which turned out to be inauguration of a dance school run by Saurav Ganguly’s wife. Nobody can be presumptuous enough to attempt to prioritise her engagements. But if balancing her commitments to Parliament and her duty to her art is so difficult, she would be well advised to allow somebody less bound for time to substitute her at Raisina Hill.
