Member of Parliament of the Rajya Sabha, former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar wants the next generation kids to get inspired by stories of the famous sportspersons to play the sport. He is presenting every MP a booklet that contains the life stories of 20 of the greatest sporting legends of India.
The 55-page booklet titled “Unforgettable sporting heroes and legends of India” disturbed by Sachin had the stories of athletes from all the sports and includes names like Major Dhyan Chand, Milkha Singh, Prakash Padukone, Ajit Wadekar, PK Banerjee and Mary Kom, apart from others.
While talking to Hindustan Times on Thursday, he said that Indian can become a strong nation economically by 2030. He also tried to speak about the importance of sports.
“We can have at least 500 such inspirational stories. If the next generation gets encouraged and plays sport, India will become an economically stronger nation by 2030,” said Tendulkar in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times on Thursday.
The Vice-president of India and the HRD ministry were given a copy on December 21, when Congress MPs didn't let Tendulkar give his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha.
“The HRD and sports ministries are working on this already. It’s my dream to see sports being treated on a par with physics, maths or history. It’s my endeavor to change the mindset, and if we can build a healthy generation, we would have saved India from an economic disaster,” said Tendulkar, whose term as a MP will end on April 26, 2018.
“Many of my fans are now young parents. If they get motivated by the stories of our old heroes and ask their children to take up a sport in school, they would have given me my greatest gift. It’s like scoring a dream hundred again,” said Tendulkar, highlighting that all work (read study) and no play, will push India – the diabetes capital of the world – to a point of no return.
“But who will push your dream once you have left the Rajya Sabha? Given the Indian mindset, isn’t this project of yours just too over-ambitious? As a cricketer, I had always set lofty benchmarks. If parents and schools love their kids, then sport should be their second religion. I am just trying to make them aware,” said Tendulkar.
Tendulkar said the booklet’s intention was two-fold. While the first was to include sport in the existing Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009, and second, to serve as a tribute to a generation that deserves a “respectable and stable life.”
“What happened to our former hockey captain Mohammed Shahid was just shameful. We can’t afford to forget our national heroes,” said Tendulkar.
