Expressing disappointment over caste being made an issue in the upcoming presidential election, opposition candidate Meira Kumar today said that caste should be buried in the deepest part of the earth and completely forgotten.
Meira Kumar, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, asserted that she espouses the values of social justice, freedom of speech, inclusiveness and abolition of caste system and would fight to uphold these values.
"Many time in history, two high caste leaders have competed for the post of the President but there haven't been any discussions on their caste. This time, when two Dalits are competing against each other, there is a lot of noise about it everywhere. I feel that caste should be buried in the deepest part of the earth and completely forgotten," she said.
"Democratic values, social justice, transparency, freedom of speech, inclusiveness, destruction of caste system, end of poverty... these are part of the ideology which is close to my heart. For this very reason, on the plank of this ideology I will compete," she added.
Meira Kumar would file her nomination paper tomorrow.
Expressing her gratitude to the 17 political parties for selecting her as their presidential candidate, Kumar said she has requested all the members of the Electoral College to support her candidature in a letter she wrote two days back.
(With IANS inputs)
