Mumbai, Aug 30: From one battlefield to another, former Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh is elated on being nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Till date he was caught up with acting, but now he is excited about being given a job with a hugely greater responsibility. But he said he is ready for all that, and more.
Though Dara Singh said he was never really interested in hardcore politics, now that he has got the chance to serve his countrymen, he is more than willing to take up the job.
Asked about his opinion on an increasing number of people from tinsel town walking in the power corridors of Delhi, Dara Singh said, "Other than nominated people, the rest of the parliamentarians should be elected representatives of the people. Otherwise the cause of a democracy is lost." He added, "People should fight and win a seat for themselves. Instead, people fight among themselves inside the Parliament."
Mr Singh sees his foremost task after being nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha as promoting his first love — sports. "Surprisingly, sports is much neglected in our country. My very first job now would be to improve the state of sports. Other than cricket, which can take very good care of itself, most other sports suffer from government apathy and need a boost," Dara Singh said. He added, "India has such stupendous talent, but no one to tap it. It is a shame that countries with tiny populations perform so well at the Olympics and the second most populated nation in the world does not even feature in the medal tally."
Dara Singh commented about the poor training facilities in India. "The youth in India have to go abroad to train. There they have to face many hardships. There are no state-of-the-art gymnasiums here. We need to build our infrastructure and make it sport-friendly. The government needs to pay more attention to sports." He has asked the media to support him in his causes. "This is just the beginning. Wait and watch. I am here to make a difference." That is Dara Singh for you. A fighter to the core.