Muzzled in Rajya Sabha, Sachin Tendulkar delivers speech on Facebook
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New Delhi: After being unable to deliver his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on Friday took to Facebook with the message of 'transforming India from being a sport loving nation to a sport playing nation'.
Sachin Tendulkar was supposed to make a rare speech in the Rajya Sabha, of which he is a nominated member, on Thursday. But shouting Congress MPs drowned him out, tempting the Master Blaster to take to social media platform.
In the 15-minute long video, Tendulkar talked about his vision of a healthy and a fit India. He went on to say that being a sportsperson, he would talk about sports, health and fitness, for it has a telling impact on India's economy.
Tendulkar raised the issue of India being the diabetic capital of the world with over 75 million people affected by the disease, and when it comes to obesity India is at number three spot in the world and the economic burden of these diseases will not allow the country to progress.
He emphasised on building a sporting culture in the country, otherwise a young, unfit, unhealthy India will be recipe for disaster. He went on to propose a framework of three 'I' - Invest, Insure and Immortalise. "We must invest our own time and effort and ensure our wellness and each one of us must to start adopting one active sport and play regularly," said Tendulkar. "Our citizens and school children should have access to more sports infrastructure. Open spaces and playgrounds should be retained and along with smart cities, we should look at building smart sport cities," he added.
Ending his speech, Tendulkar said, “‘Sports can create hope, where once there was only despair,’ said Nelson Mandela. Each child should get the right to play a sport at school. Parents have always asked their kids if they ate, studied well. It will be the biggest day for me when they start asking if their kids played during the day or not along with the other two things. I want to thank all of you for listening to me. Together, we need to build sporting culture in India and transfer the way we live and play. Jai Hind!”
