How do celebrities fare in the Indian Parliament?
We look at their contribution to attendance, debates and more.
Hi there,
Former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu was in London last week receiving an Award and State Bank of India (UK) was honoured for its outstanding work, at the Political & Public Life Awards that several of our Members attended. Scroll down for more.
Congratulations to Ragatip for their concert last weekend with Pratibha Singh Baghel at the Southbank Centre in London.
With the General Elections coming up in India, we thought it might be fun to look at whether celebrities such as film stars, sportspersons and singers bring just star power to the Lok Sabha or whether they distinguish themselves on other metrics like attendance, debate participation, Parliamentary questions and private members’ Bills too.
Scroll down to read more.
Sadiq Khan, Oliver Dowden and Angela Rayner top the poll at Political & Public Life Awards
The 16th annual Political & Public Life Awards last week had a a roll call of outstanding winners including Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP (Deputy Prime Minister) and Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP (Deputy Leader of His Majesty’s Opposition). Mayor of London Sadiq Khan won the Local Government Award.
Political leaders from across the world flew into London especially for these Awards, including Suresh Prabhu (former Union Minister of India and Chair of the Governing Council at the India Foundation), Renu Dahal (Mayor of Bharatpur, Nepal), and Her Excellency Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the first female President of Mauritius.
After a stellar few years of rapid growth in the UK market, the Bank of the Year award went to SBI (UK), while British Iraqi billionaire businesswomen and philanthropist Lady Ibtisam Auchi won the Humanitarian of the Year award.
Mayor London Sadiq Khan said to the audience: “It’s a real privilege to receive this Award. You show tonight why London is the greatest city in the world and why this country is the greatest country in the world. Our diversity is a strength not a weakness, makes us richer not poorer, makes us stronger not weaker.”
Former Union Minister of India Suresh Prabhu commended the ethos of the Awards, saying: “We have to focus on how to bring people together, so we can fight the bigger issues like climate change, issues which remove inequality, make the world a peaceful place. For this, we have to have different people to work together. … I am very happy to lend my full support to this cause.”
Amongst the attendees was Bridge India Advisory Board Member and Dean of the Meghanad Desai Academy of Economic in Mumbai Abhinay Muthoo. He said: “An extraordinary evening at the House of Commons, with many high profile people and hosting over 200 guests. A wildly successful and thoroughly enjoyable event!"
Find out more here.
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How do celebrities fare in the Indian Parliament?
IndiaSpend considered 19 MPs based on the profession they had listed in their election affidavit (professions: actor/actress, singer-actor, artist, sportsman, director, folk singer and other variations).
10 celebrity MPs belong to the BJP and 5 to the Trinamool Congress from West Bengal, with the others from Biju Janata Dal, Indian National Congress and Independent.
This Lok Sabha held the fifth-lowest number of sittings ever at 274 (although the four worse sessions were all dissolved early, whereas the current will serve the full term). Covid-19 was a big reason for this: in 2020, the Lok Sabha sat for only 33 days.
Celebrity MPs had an attendance of 56.7% vs the average for all MPs (79%).
This masks wide variations. the four MPs with attendance above the national average were all from the BJP: Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua” (90%), Bengali actress Locket Chatterjee (88%), Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari (85%) and Olympic medalist in shooting Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (80%).
Bengali actor Deepak (Dev) Adhikari had the lowest attendance (12%), up from 11% in the 16th Lok Sabha, which means he’s gone 9.5 years as an MP without really turning up to Parliament.
The other laggards including actor Sunny Deol (17%), Bengali actress and singer Mimi Chakraborty (21%), Bengali actress Nusrat Jahan Ruhi (39%), singer Hans Raj Hans (39%), Hindi actress Kirron Kher (47%) and actress Hema Malini (50%).
Odia actor Anubhav Mohanty (82) and Bhojpuri actor-singer Ravi Kishan (81) were both the most active in parliamentary debates, but Sunny Deol and Hindi actor Shatrughan Sinha didn’t take part in a single one.
On average, MPs asked 210 questions each in the current Lok Sabha. Only four of the celebrity MPs asked more than the national average: avi Kishan (480), Tiwari (395), Chatterjee (295) and Sumalatha Ambareesh (210).
On the other hand, Sunny Deol asked four, Shatrughan Sinha none.
Sources: PRS Legislative Research (and this), IndiaSpend.
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The Bridge India Team
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