Showering praises on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, she said that she was a fighter and she fought without fear, without thinking of the consequences when it comes to her commitment to social justice, to inclusiveness, to transparency.
The Opposition's Presidential candidate, Meira Kumar, landed in Kolkata on Monday night and on Tuesday she met legislators of the state at the Assembly.
She said that she was grateful that 17 major political parties under the chairmanship of AICC president Sonia Gandhi had decided to set their differences aside and would remain ideologically united against the government of the day.
"You see, I am fighting an ideological battle on behalf of the suppressed. I am fighting for inclusiveness. I believe I stand on very strong ground and I will leave no stone unturned for the triumph of my ideology," Kumar said.
"We stand at the crossroad of history where one part which leads to intolerance, suppression, fear. There is the other part which leads into our multi-religious society. Tolerance and more than that, respect for all religious denomination, to abolition of casteism, to end poverty, to inclusiveness, transparency and social justice. They even dictate what you should eat. I respect religious sentiments but we always had these religious sentiments and we had balanced them. It is a new development and we don't know where it will lead. Today we have to think. I have written to all the members of the collegium, cutting across party lines, to meet their inner voice. I believe that the inner voice of conscience carries much more weight than the numbers," she said.
Asked if she thought she stood a chance against NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, who has a huge majority backing him, Kumar said that she had appealed to the voice of conscience and in her views conscience carried much more weight than numbers.
Showering praises on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, she said that she was a fighter and she fought without fear, without thinking of the consequences when it comes to her commitment to social justice, to inclusiveness, to transparency.
State Education Minister Dr Partha Chatterjee said that Mamata wanted to congratulate her personally over the phone but could not connect with her on Monday evening. To that she confirmed that she had had a word with Mamata on Monday evening after she landed at the airport. "I was in the flight when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was trying to contact me but I had a talk with her as I landed at the airport. I want to share with you what she said. She said that she has extended her party's full support not only to me as a person but more to the ideology that we represent," Kumar said.
The presidential election will be held on July 17.
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 "MEIRA_KUMAR")
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