Caste a non-issue, will contest on democratic values, says Meira Kumar

Caste should be buried in deepest part of earth and completely forgotten, says Kumar

Opposition candidate Meira Kumar on Tuesday wondered why caste should be an issue in the Presidential election and lamented that for the first time caste was being made an issue in the election to the country's highest office.

A day before she files her nomination papers, the former Lok Sabha Speaker reiterated 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," Meira Kumar added.

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.