Inspire youngsters: PM Modi to retiring Rajya Sabha MPs

New Delhi: Bidding farewell to 72 MPs retiring from the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged them to take the experience gained within the four walls of the House to four directions in the best interests of the country and to help inspire coming generations.

Addressing the Upper House, the prime minister emphasised that experience has more power than knowledge, and the MPs should take it forward in the service of the nation. "We may be moving out of these four walls, but we should take this experience from here to all four directions in the best interests of the country. ('Char deewaron mein paya hua, char dishaon mein le jayein, ye hum sabka sankalp rahe')," Modi said.

Giving his best wishes to those retiring, he told them to "come again" to the House. He also told them to pen down their experiences and contributions. "... I would want you to put in words the memories gained here to help serve as a reference point for coming generations," the prime minister said. "We want the members to come again. As the Chairman said, some retiring members have long experience... That means the repository of experience lies with these members."

Those retiring from the Rajya Sabha include A K Antony, Ambika Soni, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, M C Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav.