The Rajya Sabha on Thursday bid farewell to 72 members who retired during the March–July period this year. The list includes three members from Odisha- Prasanna Acharya, Bhaskar Rao and Sasmit Patra of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) whose term in the Upper House also came to an end.
Prasanna Acharya, a three-time Lok Sabha MP and an MLA thrice, said before entering the Rajya Sabha he was under the impression that he had a lot of experience, but he was wrong.
"When I entered this House, I felt I was just a pigmy as there were great intellectuals and stalwarts in the Rajya Sabha,” Acharya said.
A total of 72 Rajya Sabha MPs, including seven nominated members, are retiring this year, which is one-third of the strength of the House. Among them, some may return to the Upper House.
The retiring members represent 19 states and some of them have experience of five terms. The list also includes A K Antony, Ambika Soni, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, M C Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav.
Interacting with the members, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged them to take the experience gained in the House to across India in the best interests of the people and help inspire the coming generations. In his speech, the Prime Minister emphasised that experience has more power than knowledge and the MPs should take it forward in the service of the nation.
"We may be moving out of these four walls (of this House) but we should take this experience from here to all four directions in the best interests of the country," Modi said.
Giving his best wishes to those retiring, he told them to "come again" to the House. He also told them to pen down their experiences and contributions.
"I would want you to put in words the memories gained here to help serve as a reference point for coming generations," the Prime Minister said.
In his remarks, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked lawmakers to be propelled by "passion, performance and procedural integrity" and desist from disrupting law-making bodies while upholding the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people.