Just seen, never heard: 15 MPs who didn't speak

The most famous image of MPs is of them shouting and screaming in the Lok Sabha but there is set of legislators in the House: silent ones.

There were at least 15 MPs in the fourteenth Lok Sabha who never opened their mouths or asked a question in the five years of their terms. These MPs might be great at shouting slogans but they were simply dumbstruck when it came to questions and debates in the House.

Actor Dharmendra, who is famous for his weighty dialogues in movies, didn't speak a word in Parliament in five years. The Bikaner MP is not alone though.

Kannada actor M H Ambareesh, a former Union Minister and Congress MP from Mandya in Karnataka, didn’t have anything to say too.

Biren Singh Engti and Manikrao Hodlya Gavit make the list as does Babubhai Khimabhai Katara, the BJP MP from Dohad in Gujarat who is accused of masterminding an illegal immigration racket.

Also on the list are BJP's Baliram Kashyap, Sohan Potai and Somabhai Gandalal Koli Patel.

Shiv Sena MP Anand Prakash Paranjpe voted against his party’s wishes during the trust vote on July 22,2008 but has been largely silent.

Other ‘silent’ MPs include Beni Prasad Verma and Saleem Iqbal Shervani of the Samajwadi Party, BSP's Bhishma Shankar and Akbar Ahmad Dumpy, Kunwar Sarvraj Singh of the Janata Dal (United and NCP's Laxman Rao Pandurang Patil.

The story of deafening silence doesn't end there. Egged on by their parties, there were many others who debated with zest but forgot to ask basic questions about their constituencies.

BJP's PM-in-waiting Lal Krishna Advani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, their parties top leaders in the House, didn’t have any question in five years.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who is the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister now, didn’t ask any questions when he was MP. Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit, one of the ‘Young Guns’ in Parliament, was mum for five years.

There are more statistics about questions that could stun. Actor MP Raj Babbar asked five questions while another in a similar league, Vinod Khanna asked four.

Congress MP Jitin Prasada asked six and his party colleague Rahul Gandhi asked five. Sachin Pilot, their party colleague, is takes the cake though. Pilot asked just one question in his five-year term.

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav, one of the silent MPs, says he will be more involved in debates in his next term. “This time, I was busy with the party’s work, the next time my party and I will dedicate more time to the Lok Sabha,” he said.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who retired on Thursday, has been critical of unruly MPs but ‘silent’ ones peeved him too. “Obviously, people would not want silent MPs, they would want their grievances to be raised. But we can't compel them to speak,” he said.

Source : Cnn-Ibn