The Hindu : National : Amitabh mobbed for autograph

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

National

National

Amitabh mobbed for autograph

By Gargi Parsai

— PTI

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan coming out of Parliament House after attending the oath-taking ceremony of Rajya Sabha members on Monday. His wife, Jaya Bachchan, was among those who took oath.

NEW DELHI, JULY 5. "Well done," superstar Amitabh Bachchan told his wife, Jaya Bachchan, as he hugged her in the corridors of Parliament where he met her after she took oath as the new Samajwadi Party member of the Rajya Sabha today. Earlier, Mr. Bachchan gave a thumbs-up sign when she looked up at the visitor's gallery after taking oath.

"I am happy. Let me absorb this. You've to give me time to think," Ms. Bachchan told The Hindu while reacting to her first day in Parliament as a member.

Asked why she touched the Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh's feet, she said: "Because he is my father's friend." Ms. Bachchan, who belongs to Bhopal, is the daughter of well-known journalist Taroon Coomar Bhaduri.

The Bachchan family was present in full strength in the visitor's gallery to watch the beginning of yet another stint of a member of their family in politics. About 15 years ago, Mr. Bachchan himself was elected to the Lok Sabha on the Congress ticket from Allahabad. Not only the Bachchans, but their `samdhis' Ritu and Rajan Nanda, and close friend Tina Ambani were also present to watch the proceedings. Ms. Ambani was there to watch her husband, Anil Ambani, take oath as an independent member backed by the Samajwadi Party.

"No I am not joining politics," Mr. Bachchan said when asked whether his backing of his wife's entry into the Rajya Sabha was any indication. On Jaya Bachchan's election, he said, "I am happy and proud. She is an individual and she is free to choose and pursue her interest." The Bachchan children said they had never before come to Parliament House. Not even when their father was a member. "We are very proud of her and very happy," Abhishek and Sweta said.

There was a virtual stampede in the hallowed corridors of Parliament as the watch and ward staff, security staff and visitors mobbed Mr. Bachchan. For a while, there was total chaos with hundreds of people seeking his autograph.

Ms. Bachchan was firm. She, however, had to be rescued by actress Jaya Prada, now a SP member of the Lok Sabha, who guided her out from a side exit into a waiting car in the rain.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National