Was starting Lok Paritran an impulsive decision, or a move planned for quite a while?
It was not an instantaneous decision. A group of us – some in America, some in India – had been discussing the state of the country for quite a while. All of us in the US wanted to come back to India eventually. Essentially, the decision to start Lok Paritran came about because we wanted to do something for the country. There are certain things we decided are very important before doing anything on any scale. We have to take care of things like public health and education which, according to us, are very basic issues. When we did social work, we tried to set up health camps. When conscientious people want to do something for the country, what they do is social work. But you people chose to plunge into politics… We found that whenever we tried to do something in a big way, we ran into two problems — both relating to the political system. Either you have to change certain laws to get things done, or you actually run up against the political system. For instance, this person from Rajastha
