Warhorses rule the roost in Parliament

NEW DELHI: Politics has now become thelast refuge of the gerontocracy. Or so it seems. Statistics indicate the presentLok Sabha has 73 MPs between 66-85 years of age. And their numbersare rising. Contrast this with the first Lok Sabha where the average age of MPswas 45. Today, there’s a discernible drop in the number of MPs between25-35 years. Congress warhorse, K Karunakaran is 85 and still goingstrong. His Lok Sabha colleague, Congress MP, Atma Ram Maganbhai Patel, fromMehsana in Gujarat, is also 85. And he gives colleagues half his age a run fortheir money at the hustings. The BJP too has its share of old, butnot infirm, men. BJP veteran Nanaji Deshmukh, Rajya Sabha MP, is 86. Lt Col(retd) Maharja Narendra Shah, BJP Lok Sabha MP from Tehri Garhwal, will turn 82next month. Among women parliamentarians, Krishna Bose, Trinamul Congress, takesthe honours. She is the oldest at 73. In fact, the majority of high- profile MPsnow are all over 70 years. Leading the pack is PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee at 79.Sprightly L K Advani and Jagmohan follow at 75. And by George, Fernandes is 72.So why this trend? CPM veteran Somnath Chatterjee says, ‘‘Thisis disconcerting. Young people today are critical of politicians, but my partykeeps telling them that it’s not enough to be an armchair critic. If theywant to change the system, they must join politics.’’Akali Dal leader Simranjit Singh Mann is also worried.‘‘Sometimes when I look at the greyheads in Parliament, I feel wehave become part of the Rip Van Winkle syndrome. The world has altereddramatically and yet, here we have leaders who continue to spout the old Fabiansocialistic jargon.’’ For deputy chairman of the RajyaSabha, Najma Heptullah, a House of white-haired, sleeping MPs is cause forconcern. ‘‘It is obvious they are no longer concerned with what ishappening inside the House. All the lobbying and deals are taking place outsidethe House.’’ Congress’ Mani Shanker Aiyar says,‘‘Top leaders prefer to hand out tickets to those of their peergroup. ’’ Modern medicine, too, has kept the oldfighting fit. ‘‘Look at Vajpayee. He has already made it clearhe’s willing to lead his party into the next elections. I was recentlyintroduced by Arjun Singh as a promising young man in the Congress when I am62.’’ Congress MP Renuka Choudhary says she entered the RajyaSabha at 29 years. ‘‘Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was also lucky —he entered at 27 years. The only people who can retire us is the public. Butsince they have faith in us, we keep coming back.’’ Some olden era,this.