Ahmedabad: Presidential candidate of Congress led opposition alliance Meira Kumar today visited Sabarmati Ashram here before formally commencing her election campaign from congress headquarters saying that she had written all the members of the electorate to support her and was hopeful that they would do so.

She also said that the election for the top post should not be linked with caste and the attempts to project it as a contest of Dalit vs Dalit should be condemned.

Former Loksabha speaker Mrs Kumar, who had arrived here last evening, visited Sabarmati Ashram in the morning and also used the spinning wheel there.

Later she came to Gujarat congress headquarter to hold a meeting with party MLA’s and then addressing a press conference she said that when she was asked about the presidential election becoming a Dalit vs Dalit, affair she felt happy that things were becoming clear and masks of some people with this kind of thought had been removed.

‘I knew that some people in the country believe in caste based things but now when during the election for the highest post such things are being raised, I am concerned that even in 2017 our society look at some one from the angle of caste alone. Earlier when candidates of so-called upper castes contested Presidential election only their merits and qualities and not their castes were discussed. But when me and respected Kovind Ji are in the contest, the first discussion is about our caste and every other thing becomes secondary. If such an election in any other country would have taken place on the basis of race, had we not condemned it. So we must condemn the attempt of making of this election a caste based affair,’ she said.

Mrs Kumar said that the 17 opposition parties led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi had made her candidate owing to similarity of ideology which was similar to that of Gandhiji and that was why she chose to come to Sabarmati Ashram before start of her campaign. I have gained strength for my campaign by visiting the Ashram.

She said that she has written to each one of the electorate to vote hearing the sound of conscience and not let this historic occasion be wasted and had full faith that they would support her. She believed in the ideology of Gandhiji which was about freedom of expression, social justice, end of poverty, democratic values.

She said that she had a special affinity towards Gujarat and also wish it to prosper. ‘In my childhood soon after the independence, Sardar Patel, the great leader from Gujarat, had become my neighbour in Delhi and I had got his blessings.

Notably, NDA candidate Ramnath Kovind, who as per the support figures was almost certain to be the next president, had kicked off his campaign on June from J & K. The election is to be held on July 17.

DeshGujarat