Sachin ka Haath Congress ke Saath!!!

"Hold on to your Dreams, Chase Your Dreams with a Bigger cause towards Society and Country, They are bound to come True" - Sachin Tendulkar 

I was thinking what to write for this fortnight. Many things came to my mind; at last I am ending up writing “Sachin ka Haath Congress ke Saath!!!”.

Let me make one thing very clear whether he is nominated by the congress or by the president that does not matter. My only concern is its better if sachin  (other 12 nominated members also) becomes a Nation Voice than an ideological bedmate. 

In the first place I congratulate ‘God’ of cricket, Master Blaster, little master Mr. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar for being nominated as the member of Rajya Sabha. 

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (born 24 April 1973) is an Indian cricketer widely considered by many to be one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket. In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. Tendulkar was a part of the2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team in the later part of his career, his first such win in six World Cup appearances for India. 

As a Businessman: 

Tendulkar's immense popularity has led him to be an early pioneer in India on cricket business dealings when he signed a record sports management deal with Worldtel in 1995 &2001. In 2006, he signed a contract with Saatchi and Saatchi's ICONIX. 

Tendulkar has opened two restaurants: Tendulkar's (Colaba, Mumbai) and Sachin's (Mulund, Mumbai) and Bangalore. Sachin owns these restaurants in partnership with Sanjay Narang of Mars Restaurants. 

In 2007, Tendulkar also announced a JV with the Future Group and Manipal Group to launch healthcare and sports fitness products under the brand name 'S Drive and Sach'. A series of comic books by Virgin Comics is also due to be published featuring him as a superhero. 

Tendulkar sponsors 200 underprivileged children every year through Apnalaya, a Mumbai-based NGO associated with his mother-in-law, Annabel Mehta. A request from Sachin on Twitter raised Rs1.025 crore through Sachin's crusade against cancer for the Crusade against Cancer foundation. Sachin Tendulkar devoted all of nine hours to the 12-hour Coca-Cola-NDTV Support My School telethon on 18 September 2011 that helped raise Rs 7 crore – Rs. 2 crore more than the target – for from the creation of basic facilities, particularly toilets for girl students, in 140 government schools across the country. 

Today, Sachin Tendulkar is not just a name; it is a brand, even a faith for some people! Achieving what the batting legend has earned, must be something else! Sachin Tendulkar is called the 'God' of cricket.

Hon'ble President Pratibha Patil on Thursday approved Rajya Sabha recommendation for Sachin Tendulkar, according to the reports. Tendulkar would be the first active sportsman and a cricketer to be nominated to Rajya Sabha. 

39-year-old Tendulkar, who has brought many a laurel to the country through his exploits in the game, will become members of Parliament under a provision of the constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the Upper House. 

Tendulkar and his wife Anjali paid a courtesy visit to Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi this morning. Sonia wanted to meet the batting great and personally congratulate him on achieving the historic feat of scoring 100 international centuries. Tendulkar and his wife spent close to half an hour with Sonia. 

Tendulkar's nomination to Rajya Sabha has come as a surprise against the backdrop of a long-standing demand for conferring of Bharat Ratna on him for his contribution to the game. He completed the historic achievement of scoring 100 international centuries in March this year. 

When one is in the limelight it is almost impossible to escape controversies in India, and the batting legend is no exception for this!!! 

One of the most popular controversies against the ‘master blaster’ was when he sold away a ‘gift’! Michael Schumacher had gifted a Ferrari 360 Modena to Tendulkar on behalf of Fiat, when the batting legend scored 29 Test centuries to equal Sir Don Bradman's record. On 4 September 2002 India's then finance minister Jaswant Singh wrote to Tendulkar telling him that the government will waive customs duty imposed on the car as a measure to applaud his feat. However the rules at the time stated that the customs duty can be waived only when receiving an automobile as a prize and not as a gift. It is claimed that the proposals to change the law (Customs Act) was put forth in Financial Bill in February 2003 and amended was passed as a law in May 2003. Subsequently the Ferrari was allowed to be brought to India without payment of the customs duty (1.13 crore or 120% on the car value of 75 lakh). When the move to waive customs duty became public in July 2003, political and social activists protested the waiver and filed PIL in the Delhi High Court. With the controversy snowballing, Fiat India agreed to pay the import duty. Newspapers reported that the car presented, was later sold by Tendulkar to a Surat builder Jayesh Desai. 

Tendulkar remained tight-lipped when questioned on this, but his fans did not. Social media was abuzz and fans criticised him for the act. Great-great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Tushar Gandhi went on to tweet "When Sachin got his Ferrari as a 'gift', he wanted duty & excise exemption; now that he has sold it, will he ask for capital gains exemption?” 

Staying on with tax exemptions, last year the world’s richest cricketer also claimed he was an actor (and not a cricketer) when endorsing products, to save a little over Rs 2 crore! According to reports, Tendulkar was levied an income tax of Rs 2.08 crore on the earnings of almost Rs 6 crore from ESPN Star Sports, PepsiCo and Visa in foreign currency during 2001-02 and 2004-05. He claimed deduction under section 80 RR of I-T Act. 

The controversies of master blaster is nothing when we compare the recent scams like 2G spectrum scam, CWG Scam, Adarsh Apartment scam or the coal scam of the same UPA government. Under the anti-defection law, a nominated member has the option to give a declaration within six months if he wants to associate himself with a political party in the House. Let’s wait for 6 months. 

Whatever may be the controversies or the allegation about the little master only thing that I want to say is as the saying goes – ‘With great power, comes great responsibilities’. When you are an idol for billions around the country and the world, the least one can do is act responsibly!!! 

Hope our little master makes the above words come true. 

When our country is facing many problem today may be the external (border, terrorism etc.,) or the internal problems (corruption, naxalism, water problem, internal security) unless the voice of little master become the nation voice for a clean and corrupt free administration, clean organised sports, nation youth voice for nation building, voice for making the India a super power nation by 2020.

Sachin belongs to All. 

Let him be the Nation voice and not a Ideological bedmate.

--

Regards,

Balaji S

National Executive Council Member,

ABVP, Bangalore.