Kolkata, Jun 16: Taking up the campaign for APJ Abdul Kalam online, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today said her choice of the Presidential candidate was the choice of millions of Indians.
Debuting on social networking site Facebook, she wrote in her first post, “I gave voice to what millions of Indians want to see in a President.”
Refusing to budge from her stand, she said, “My party is a small party. We are not a big party with none of the resources others possess. We are led by truth and conviction. All through my life I have stood by my principles. I stand by the position I have taken”.
Stating that the will of the people is supreme in a democracy, Banerjee requested fellow citizens to petition their public representatives to stand up, support and vote for Kalam.
“Let your voice be heard. I will bow to the will of the people,” she said.
Describing the ‘missile man' as a proud and distinguished son of India who continues to inspire all Indians, the chief minister said Kalam remains above narrow politics. “He is a seeker of truth, a fount of knowledge and an impartial voice of reason and sanity, who is above narrow politics. He is the kind of man all our citizens aspire to make President,” Banerjee said.
The TMC chief had joined hands with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to propose the name of Kalam. However, the SP later broke away and pledged support to Pranab Mukherjee, leaving the West Bengal Chief Minister totally isolated.
Unfazed by the isolation after Congress-led UPA named Mukherjee as its Presidential nominee, Banerjee said last night that her party remained firm on the candidature of Kalam and said “the game has just begun”.
“We are firm on the candidature of Kalam. He is the fittest candidate. We are not shifting from our stand of what we have announced earlier,” Banerjee had said.
Noting that she and her party has already given a clarion call to other parties to support Kalam as President, Banerjee said, “Along with my other fellow citizens I can only urge them to consider this call. Let our country be led forward by people such as him, people of free thought and honourable action who will not hesitate to do what is just and right”.
By recalling Tagore's famous lines of ‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high' in her first posting on any social networking site, she said, “I am a humble, transparent, common person like the vast majority of you”.
