Jaya Prada | Murali

The Kingdom of Bollywoodis actively involved in almost everything like social work, fashion shows, product launches, restaurants or spas and above all politics. Coming to politics, some of the stars may be great achievers in their respective fields, but were singularly unimpressive as members of India’s two houses of parliament. Based on the statistics of Social Watch India, we take you through some of the great names who were conspicuous by their absence.

1.Hema Malini

The beautiful yesteryear actress Hema Malini became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2004. She was soon elected to the Rajya Sabha on BJP ticket. The actress-dancer fared better compared to others, with 10 percent attendance. She asked 179 questions and participated in the upper house debates 15 times, but her questions formed only 0.78 percent of totally raised.

2.Govinda

Next in our list is famous Actor Govinda, who joined the Congress party in 2004. Govinda was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai with a thumping majority, beating the five time sitting MP by over 50000 votes. In the run up to the polls, Govinda had announced that his agenda was prawaas (transportation), swasthya (health) and gyaan (education). The Bollywood star Govinda did not even once attend the house proceedings during his MP stint, leave alone raising questions on these issues.

3.Dharmendra

Dharmendra was elected as a Member of the Parliament (MP) in the 2004 general elections, from Bikaner in Rajasthan, on a BJP ticket. Dharmendra rarely attended the Parliament when the house was in session, preferring to spend the time shooting movies and doing farm-work at his farm house. He also did not participate in any debates or raise any queries. Along with actor Govinda, Dharmendra has been criticized for ignoring his duties as a MP.

4.Vinod Khanna

In 1997, Vinod Khanna joined the BJP and in the 1998 general elections was elected from Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab. In 1999, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the same constituency. He became the union minister for culture and tourism in July 2002. Vinod Khanna has essayed a variety of Bollywood roles with style, but had just four questions to ask the government, and spoke only twice in the discussions, while his average attendance was 5.5 percent during his tenure as a MP.

5. Jaya Prada

Samajwadi Party‘s Lok Sabha MP Jaya Prada was initiated into the Telugu Desam Party by her former co-star N.T.Rama Rao in 1994. She later broke away from him and joined the Chandrababu Naidu faction of the party. She was nominated to the Rajya Sabha representing Andhra Pradesh in 1996.Following differences with party Supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, she left TDP to join Samajwadi Party and contested from Rampur parliamentary Constituency in UP, during the 2004 general elections. In her campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, she was issued a notice by the Election Commission for violating the code of conduct by distributing bindis to women in Rampur’s Swar locality. Throughout her political career Jaya Prada rarely attended the parliament and asked only 178 questions.

6.Jaya Bachchan

Jaya Bachchan was elected as a Samajwadi Party MP, representing the Rajya Sabha in 2009. Although being quite active in the parliamentary debates, Jaya Bachchan’s lack of attendance in the Rajya Sabha meetings has indicated her least interest towards politics. The yesteryear diva has raised only 159 questions in the house.

7.Shyam Benegal

Eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal, another Rajya Sabha member whose films have essayed contemporary social issues with great intensity, had no question to ask the government and only spoke twice in the debates of the house.

8.Navjyot Sindhu

Former cricketer and BJP’s Amritsar MP Navjot Sidhu may have impressed everyone with his banter and smart repartee, but as an MP the cricketer gets thumbs down as he remained uncharacteristically quiet during Lok Sabha debates. He asked only 0.38 percent of the questions and attended the house only six percent of the time.

A Raja

Said to be the mother of all scams, 2G spectrum scandal had A Raja at its center from the beginning. The whole deal of issuing 1232 2G spectrum licenses to 85 companies at a price set in the year 2001 by the UPA alliance was in the shadow of doubt from its beginning. The CAG report on the scam reveals that it caused a loss of 1.76-lakh crore to the exchequer. The report which termed allocation deal as arbitrary, unfair and inequitable held the then telecom minister Raja responsible for the sale of 2G spectrum and the huge revenue loss. It was revealed that the minster had personally signed and approved the majority of the questionable allocations. Raja was arrested on February 2, 2011 and later sent to Tihar Jail for judicial custody. CBI and Enforcement Directorate estimate that Raja could have made as much as 3,000 crore from the alleged bribes.

Amar Singh

Its jail time for Amar Singh, the politician who always enjoyed the limelight for various reasons from his close bonds with Ambanis and Bachchans to the cash-for-votes scam that questioned the value of democracy. He is the latest one in the band of politicians spending days counting the bars at the Tihar jail. The high profile jail has felt the presence of many big shots lately including 2G-scam accused A Raja and Kanimozhi as well as former CWG chairman Suresh Kalmadi. Here is a list of top politicians who are in jail for some of the recent scams that rocked the Indian politics.

The political heavyweight from Uttar Pradesh has been a prominent voice in the Indian parliament over a decade now. Beyond politics, he has a special affection for Bollywood where he called its Godfather Amitabh Bachchan his brother and was linked to many actresses including Jaya Prada. He was often seen in the company of Bollywood stars and corporate honchos. In a leaked tape that Singh claimed is bogus, his close friend and Chairperson of Reliance ADAG Anil Ambani allegedly offered him 20-25 crore to fix a deal. He was quick in making friends and foes in politics and on many occasions, his political friends turned to be bitter rivals and vice versa. In a major setback, Singh was charge sheeted in the ash-for-votes scandal in 2008. It was alleged that he conspired and masterminded the scam when the UPA government was facing a floor test in Parliament after the Left Front pulled off from the collision due to difference over the U.S.-India nuclear deal. The day has come now for Amar Singh as the Special judge rejected his interim bail plea and sent him to judicial custody in Tihar jail.

M. K. Kanimozhi

She has been the favorite child of DMK Chief M Karunanidhi and has been the urban face of the party. The political career that began in 2007 after being elected to the Rajya Sabha, has been under the shadow of doubt after ever since the 2G scam broke out. On 20 May 2011 Kanimozhi Karunanidhi was arrested and sent to Tihar Prisons in India after her bail plea was rejected in the 2G spectrum scam case, in which she is alleged to be co-conspirator.