00:00Well, the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 have just got a bit more interesting, with actor
00:08Kangana Ranaut throwing her hat into the ring. She's going to be contesting on a BJP ticket
00:13from Monday in her home state of Himachal Pradesh. The question, though, is that if
00:17Kangana does win this election, will she be a good MP? Because when we look at the record
00:23of celebrity MPs, it's actually not a great record. With a handful of exceptions, most
00:30celebrity MPs have actually been duds in Parliament. If you look at official records, for example,
00:37you have an MP like Sunny Deol, the superstar of Indian cinema, who was elected from Gurdaspur
00:43in Punjab last time, but who had amongst the worst attendance at just 17% in the outgoing
00:49Lok Sabha. Then you had others in the past like Rekha and Sachin Tendulkar, who were
00:54nominated to the Rajya Sabha, but who barely attended the house. Their attendance was less
00:59than 10% and their contribution practically nil. So at the end of the day, celebrities
01:05may be good at what they do in their respective fields, but that doesn't mean they necessarily
01:09make good MPs or good politicians. There are exceptions. We've got the BJP's Manoj Tiwari,
01:15for example, celebrity turned politician, who actually has a very good attendance record,
01:20a good record of asking questions as well, and therefore is among those handful that actually do
01:28speak up in Parliament and do actually contribute. But celebrities by and large don't seem to make
01:34the best parliamentarians. One wonders why they even accept contesting or accept Rajya Sabha
01:40nominations if they don't have the time to devote to Parliament in the first place. It also
01:45doesn't help that Parliament as an institution has also been slowly eroded over the years
01:50and in general now meets for far fewer sittings and has far fewer debates and discussions.
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