Jaipur: Pointing at the BJP-ruled Rajasthan as being one of the BIMARU states which account for most of the people suffering from blindness, skin diseases and leprosy in India, party MP Shatrughan Sinha said becoming a nuclear power or eradicating polio was not enough as there are several challenges facing the country.
There is a need for better understanding and education to deal with such problems, he added.
"India is a nuclear power and also became free from polio, but that is not enough.
"Most of the blind, patients with skin diseases and leprosy in the world are in India... And most of them are in the so-called 'Bimaru' states that include Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh," said Sinha.
The actor-turned-politician said he had entered politics with the aim of rendering social service and takes politics as a social responsibility instead of a profession.
"I entered politics with an aim to bring smiles to the faces of farmers, the poor, labourers and youths... With an aim to do good by them or be part of a team which can do so," he said.
Talking about him becoming the Union Health Minister under the earlier NDA government, Sinha said his brothers had become doctors but he had no quality of even becoming a compounder although he later became the health minister of the country.
"Some time it happens in a democracy that the one who is not qualified is made a minister," Sinha said in a humorous vein.
Sinha, however, refused to talk about any political issues saying that he was in the city for a different purpose.
As to the matter of the strike by FTII students against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute's chairman, Sinha said that the issue was close to him but he would make any suggestions in this regard only in Delhi.
He said he had discussed the issue recently with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
