Pawan Kalyan opens up about incident that drove him to politics despite poll debacle

Addressing a gathering of 500 students at the 10th edition of Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad at Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday, actor-director and Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader Pawan Kalyan said how a woman's struggle to get justice for her daughter who was brutally raped and murdered in Andhra Pradesh had moved him. While speaking at the event, the southern star recalled an incident when the woman had inspired him to continue in politics at a time when he had lost his maiden election battle.

"I was not able to concentrate on what was happening around me. We had lost all hope. It was a very sad day for me. That's when a woman came to me and said that something had happened to her daughter at her school,"

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Recalling the incident, he said, "She said 'Anna please come with me'. When I went there, I found that her daughter was dead. She was brutally raped and murdered. She was running here and there to bring her daughter's murderer to books, but nobody was listening to her. That's when I decided that I will continue to be the voice of such downtrodden people who are suppressed by the powerful. That's when I decided to continue with politics."

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"People should go and observe grassroots realities and work accordingly, instead of just writing on social media. That's when social media will become a powerful tool," he said.

"I read and follow Swami Vivekananda and Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for the country when he was just 23. We should also make some sacrifices for our next generation," Kalyan said, adding, "Leaders are not made in one day, give yourself at least a decade's time, gain knowledge, have patience, only then things will change."

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