Sarita Devi, 56, lost her son Suraj, to cancer a few years ago. The 27-year-old youth was addicted to smoking bidi and chewing tobacco.

After this loss, with an effort to ensure that her husband, Parasanth, a farmer, did not succumb to this dreaded disease too, she travelled all the way from Chapra to Sonepur in North Bihar, to attend a cancer awareness programme despite the occasion of Teej, a sacrosanct festival, when most women observe fast for the well-being of their husbands.

Thousands of women had assembled on the campus near the temple to listen to Dr Ravi Dev, a cancer specialist from Bangalore, Dr Jitendra Singh of Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, and Bihari Babu — Shatrughan Sinha. “If I can quit smoking, why can’t you?” the actor-turned-MP said in his famous baritone.

“On the day of Teej, I have come all the way from Mumbai, leaving my wife Poonam to spread awareness amongst you all. Cancer se darna nahi, ladna hai. (Don’t be frightened of cancer, fight it),” he said.
Sinha, who was the Union health minister in Vajpayee’s regime emphasised how prevention was better than cure.

“Shun tobacco. It consumes one life every 40 seconds in India. If even few of you pledge not to smoke and chew tobacco from today, I will consider my mission a success,” said Shatrughan Sinha.

After inaugurating a blood bank, a haemophilia hospital and Mahavir Cancer Sansthan in Patna in the last few months, this was the BJP MP’s fourth health mission.

Later, the Bihari Babu appealed to the women audience that if the daughters persuaded their fathers to quit smoking, citing how hazardous it could be for the entire family’s health, it would bear rich dividends.