Mumbai, June 4: Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar took his oath as a Rajya Sabha member earlier today, thereby becoming the first active sportsperson to become a Member of Parliament. Tendulkar, who was nominated to the Upper House along with veteran actor Rekha and business leader Anu Aga in April 2012, took the oath in the chamber of Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.
Sachin, who took the oath in Hindi, promised to use his position to help not only cricket but other sports as well. “In the last 22 years of my international career, cricket has given me so much and I also wanted to give something back to cricket in the latter half of my life. Today with the nomination, I am in a better position not only to help cricket but also other sports. It means a lot to me. I will try to help other sports.”
“But I believe there will be a few obstacles along the way, and I will need from my fellow parliamentarians, the administrators, media and our countrymen. Together we can make a lot of changes,” the newly appointed Rajya Sabha MP said.
Tendulkar was accompanied by his wife, Anjali, and IPL Chairman and MP, Rajiv Shukla, to the function. Earlier, India captain, MS Dhoni, and world chess champion, Viswanathan Anand, had both wished Tendulkar and were sure that the batting legend would enjoy his new role.
Having served the game since making his international debut in November 1989, Tendulkar has had an outstanding career and has set the benchmark in modern-day batting. He is the leading run-getter in international cricket with more than 33000 runs in all formats of the game. He is the first batsman to break the 200-run barrier in ODI cricket and, in March this year, he also became the first batsman to post 100 international centuries.
