India, Jan. 31 -- Why did you choose to become a politician?

I had a good middle-class upbringing. Aspiring to get a good degree, I went to IIT Madras. Then I got a good private sector job. But when I started travelling a lot within India, especially Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, my middle-class bubble burst. Even within cities, I saw two Indias coexisting. The inequality we see in India kept eating me at me for a long time. I realised that our country would not progress in a fundamental way if issues were not tackled at the policy level. It seemed that either we do not have the political will to work on these issues or maybe the right people are not part of the government. After cribbing for a long time, I thought maybe I sho...