Everyone likes a cause célèbre and Mary Kom’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha has created some stir in the hills of Manipur known for their narratives of doom and gloom. The nine bodies of those who died in violence on September 1, 2015 – following the passage of three controversial bills by the Manipur Assembly – are yet to be buried.

They are the only bargaining chips that the hill tribes of Manipur have to demand revocation of the three bills and give Sixth Schedule status to the hill tribes of Manipur. But that is another story.

Of the 250 members in the Upper House, 12 are nominated by the President under Article 80 of the Constitution. The President, of course, merely endorses what the government of the day places before him. The Constitution mentions that nominees should be from among persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in literature, science, art and social service. It does not mention sportspersons or mediapersons although in recent times these two categories seem to have become favourites of different ruling parties.

Earlier, those nominated to the Rajya Sabha were persons of unquestionable antecedents. They included luminaries like Zakir Hussain, a scholar, renowned historians Kalidas Nag and Radha Kumar Mookerji, eminent scientist Satyendranath Bose, renowned exponent of classical dance forms Rukmini Devi Arundale, among others. Gradually the bar has been lowered to accommodate party loyalists that include journalists and others.

Focus on Rio

The latest round of nominations by the BJP following the completion of tenures of the UPA nominees are, therefore, not unusual. The list includes 2012 Olympian Mary Kom, better known for her prowess as a pugilist. But questions have been raised as to whether a serving government employee (Mary Kom serves in Manipur police) can be nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Secondly, she is dedicated to her sports and like Sachin Tendulkar, the master cricketer, she might not have the time to attend Rajya Sabha proceedings. Even now, several major corporate houses who wish to invite her have to queue up for her consent to grace their occasion. This, despite their willingness to pay big money. But these will dwindle once the pugilist is past her prime in the sport.

Hence the Rajya Sabha nomination is not such a bad idea. As a Rajya Sabha MP, Mary Kom would enjoy incentives equal to or better than what she does at the moment, which includes free air travel for herself and her family members, apart from a free, plush accommodation at Lutyens’ Delhi and several other freebies that sportspersons might ordinarily not be entitled to. In fact, while speaking to the media at an event in Delhi recently, Mary Kom said her focus right now is to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Hence she would only be able to give due thought to the matter at a later date. But that did not deter Mary from also saying that if she becomes an MP she would like to push for a more efficacious sports policy in this country.

Often we need to remind ourselves why the Upper House of Parliament has nominated members. N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, a member of the Constituent Assembly, had said in July 1947 that by nominating members of great calibre, an opportunity is given to seasoned people who may not wish to take part in the hurly burly of politics but, “who might be willing to participate in the debate with an amount of learning and importance which we do not ordinarily associate with the House of the People (Lok Sabha)”.

Ayyangar further noted that the nominated members who possess outstanding merit and distinction, in fact, add to the importance and dignity of the Rajya Sabha and make it truly a House bestowing calm consideration on measures of national importance which come before it. Ayyangar’s words are worth their weight in gold. But are we even guided by such sage-like advice?

The Rajya Sabha is meant to be a congregation of wise minds, not a cacophonous and disruptive arena that the Lok Sabha has become, although we must admit that Hamid Ansari, the current chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is increasingly finding it tough to control its uproarious members in recent times.

Sachin Tendulkar entered the Rajya Sabha in 2012. Article 99 of the Constitution says a nominated member is allowed six months to decide whether to join a political party after he/she has taken his/her seat in the House. The rules do not differentiate between Independent members and nominated members. Hence, these members fall under the ambit of the anti-defection law. So while it is believed that nominations to the Rajya Sabha transcend politics, the reality is otherwise. As someone rightly pointed out – “The rules allow what common political sense objects to.”

There is a dichotomy here between political morality and parliamentary rules.

There is also the issue of participation in the debates. FACTLY, a data journalism portal, which analysed performances of the 10 nominated members of Rajya Sabha found that Tendulkar and actress Rekha, both UPA nominees, have an attendance 5.5 and 5.1 per cent respectively and the latter had not participated in a single debate. Both were nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2012. Sachin asked only two questions in the House and that only after his prolonged absence became a heated subject of debate by the Opposition.

Eye on polls

Mary Kom is perhaps replacing Mrinal Miri who is a former vice-chancellor of the North Eastern Hill University (Nehu) and renowned scholar of philosophy from the Northeast.

Miri registered an attendance of 88.5 per cent and used his MP funds with great deal of scrutiny and accountability. He refused a government bungalow and chose to live in his private residence at South Extension-II, New Delhi.

Political observers see Mary Kom’s nomination as a BJP gameplan for the 2017 Assembly elections in Manipur. While she represents the best in her sport, she also comes from the tiny Kom Naga tribe of the hills of Manipur – a state embroiled in protracted ethnic conflicts. Perhaps this is an ingenious attempt by the BJP to get a foothold in the hills of Manipur. The party is quite well entrenched in the Imphal valley. Perhaps the idea is also to assuage the hurt feelings of the hill tribes. But is that going to work? Manipur is a fractured homeland of several ethnicities, not a collective space of a common polity.

The BJP has also been toying with the idea of doing an Arunachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand in Manipur too. The irony is that the BJP might just succeed because the people of Manipur are disillusioned by the Congress government which they see as incorrigibly corrupt and incapable of addressing the persistent paranoia that afflicts both the hill tribes and the Meiteis in the valley. Can Mary Kom be the palliative?

But now that it is almost sure that Mary Kom will be our collective representative from the region, let us hope we see and hear her in the Rajya Sabha more often than with her gloves on! And will she remain apolitical? Or will the charm of Lutyens’ Delhi finally woo her to join active politics? Let us wait and watch.

(This appeared in The Telegraph. The writer can be contacted at patricia.mukhim@gmail.com)