RAJYA SABHA _______ SYNOPSIS OF DEBATE _______ (Proceedings other than Questions and Answers) _______ Thursday, August 10, 2017/ Shravana 19, 1939 (Saka) _______ FAREWELL TO THE HON'BLE CHAIRMAN THE LEADER OF THE HOUSE (SHRI ARUN JAITLEY): Ten years is indeed, a very long association. Before becoming the Chairperson of this House as the Vice-President of India, you had experience in various fields of public life. You had been a very distinguished diplomat; you had chaired important commissions, committees and universities but dealing with political fraternity was a different experience altogether. The Chairperson's job is very challenging in this House for the reason that this House, now has a changed character. Things start with a lot of acrimonious debate but nothing remains indefinitely held up. The Chair does play a role, which eventually does force the consensus. Chairman’s job is a mixed job because you take the good with the not so good. Your tenure might have seen disturbances but also very high quality of debates on several occasions. I am sure we will all relish those debates and you will carry with you memories of those debates. Your tenure had many interesting anecdotes. I am sure, you retire from this House with great memories. We all recollect the sage advice that you kept giving to us and through us, to the country from time to time. We will always have memories of you as the Chair and how you lent dignity to the quality ___________________________________________________ This Synopsis is not an authoritative record of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha. 297 of debates in this House while presiding over it. We wish you very good health and many more years in the service of this country. THE PRIME MINISTER (SHRI NARENDRA MODI): I have firm belief that after a long service, today you would be moving towards a new area of operations because you have kept yourself very much physically fit. You belong to such a family which is having a history of public life nearly of hundred years. You come from the background of such a family which had active role in public life, especially with Congress. You have spent your life as a career diplomat. I came to know the meaning of this after becoming Prime Minister. Because the meaning of the their way of laughing, the way of their shaking hands cannot be understood immediately. Because they are trained like that. But you might have definitely used this diplomacy in the last 10 years. Most of the time of your tenure was associated with West-Asia. After retirement from there, most of your work was similar. But in these 10 years you have been assigned a different responsibility. You have tried your level best to discharge this within the limit of the Constitution. It is possible that there might also be some kind of squirm within you. But, today onwards you will have the joy of freedom and you would have the opportunity to work, to think and to talk as per your basic thought. Whenever I had meeting with you, I learnt many things from you. I certainly felt the insight that you had within yourself. So, I am heartily grateful to you. I express a lot of good wishes to you from the bottom of my heart. I, on behalf of both the Houses and my countrymen, express my gratitude towards you for the services, you rendered to the nation as a Vice-President. After your retirement your experience will be utilised for the social life. Due to the dignities of the Constitution of the nation, your time and strength would be utilised for the guidance of the nation and I wish so. THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION (SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD): We all are bidding you a farewell here with heavy heart. I had the opportunity to know you for the last 38 years. I had first relation with you when you were the Chief of Protocol and I was appointed as head of Youth Organisation. After that no one was 298 appointed as Chief of Protocol. You had been a successful Chief of the Protocol in full time with Srimati Indira Gandhi. I had an opportunity to meet you when you were Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. You got several opportunities to render your services in the embassies of many countries. When I was the leader of Haj delegation from our country, you were Ambassador there. That time we had the opportunity to know each other closely. You had done commendable job as Vice-Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University. You chaired that group wherein you worked for all the sections of society so as to infuse confidence among people. There were people from all the parties in this. You took all in confidence and heard the people of all the groups and submitted your report within 11 months. The work performed by you as Chairman of the National Minority Commission will always be remembered. You have also authored many books and many countries have awarded you honorary degrees but you have never used them. You are also a golf sportsman. Now you will get sufficient time to fulfil the hobby. This tenure of yours was very magnificent. All the Chairmen, I have worked with, were very nice Chairmen, but you are the first Chairman with whom I have worked as Leader of Opposition very closely. The Leader of the House and the Leader of Opposition are closer to the Chairman, so I got more opportunity to understand you. The way you have run the House in the last 10 years is very commendable. You got the benefit of being a diplomat throughout your life. A diplomat does not allow even his enemy to know about his ensuing decisions. You have graced this Parliament by your gentlemanness and your soft-spoken language. Now you would also get the chance to work in social life. I and on behalf of my party thank you a lot and wish for your long life. PROF. RAM GOPAL YADAV: After having your guidance for a long time, we all are sad at this particular moment. You are multifaceted talented person. You have worked as Ambassador, Vice- Chancellor and Chairman of this House. But you might have faced more difficulties as Chairman of this House because the nature of working of this House is changed. Despite that there was always a 299 smile on your face. You have never scolded anybody. You have always tried to run the House in proper manner. You have never permitted any Bill to be passed in a din. It was your instruction that whoever presides the House, should not allow the bill to be passed in a din. At this occasion, I and on behalf of my party wish you a long life and also pray that you should be healthy and happy. SHRI A. NAVANEETHAKRISHNAN: I would like to convey Mr. Chairman that our Amma had high esteem for him. Madam wanted me to get a good name from Mr. Chairman. I leave this to his judgment. Mr. Chairman is the upholder of the rule of law. The manner, in which Mr. Chairman dealt with each and every Member without any discrimination, prejudice, malice and bias, is called the rule of law. You enforce the rule of law and thus, uphold the Indian Constitution. I would like to submit that you are more judicious than any other judicially-trained personality. You conducted this House without any discrimination. I would also like to submit that you are a versatile genius. In one of your speeches you showed the real concern towards our Indian people. Indian people are facing two problems, that is, poverty and unemployment. I would like to submit that you are really a good role model for each and every Indian citizen. I pray to God to give you good health and long life SHRI DEREK O’BRIEN: I would like to share some of the things which this House may not know. You always do yoga in the morning, and you do walking in the evening. That is yoga and walk, that is why you are still looking 60 when you are closer to 70. You were a number five batsman and a top agile wicket-keeper. When you were the Ambassador to Iran, you introduced cricket to the staff of the Indian Embassy in Iran and this gesture was welcomed by the Iran as well. One of your biggest achievements in the Rajya Sabha, is “no Bill in the din”. I have learnt several meaningful things from you and what you have done in this House. You extended the working hours of the functioning of the Rajya Sabha by one hour. You introduced the time limit for the Zero Hour. You also changed the system of ducking the questions. It was an intelligent move. You also introduced the concept of morning meeting and called it tea club. We were able to 300 share everything in those meetings. I would like to add that you never lost your sense of humour. I appreciate that you inspired all of us. SHRI ALI ANWAR ANSARI: I would like to state that "sympathy" and " help" are inherent to your name. I would only like to add that you have lived up to your name here and proved it right. You, as a Chairman and Deputy Chairman, both of you have shown excellent tuning and coordination. I wish you a long and healthy future life on my behalf and on the behalf of my party.