Meira Kumar: Social freedom still a far cry in country

ARA: Presidential nominee of Congress-led 17 opposition parties Meira Kumar visited Chandwa, her native village, on outskirts of the town on Friday.
After paying floral tribute to her late father former deputy PM Jagjivan Ram, Meira participated in an all-religion prayer meeting in the evening. Earlier in the day, she participated in three different programmes at Bal Hindi Pustakalya, local Congress office and Jagjivan College.
Addressing a gathering at Bhojpur district Congress office, Meira said the presidential election will witness victory of ideology. “When people ask me whether I have the numbers to win the presidential election, I assure them they should wait for the result. It will surprise them as all the number games will be demolished and the ideology will triumph with flying colours. I started my ‘yatra’ for garnering support from Sabarmati Ashram as I believe in Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology,” she added.
Meira said this election is not only about losing or winning, rather it is about eradicating communalism, discrimination on the basis of religion and caste and establishing equality in the Indian society where people should feel fearless, irrespective of their caste, creed and religion.
“The country has already won political freedom, but it has yet to get economy and social freedom. Unless we are able to bridge the wide gap between the poor and the rich and uplift the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, minorities and other downtrodden sections of the society, our freedom will remain incomplete,” she said.
At Bal Hindi Library, Meira was welcomed by district IMA president Dr Bijay Kumar Singh. “I have appealed to all political parties to support me on the basis of their inner conscience,” she said.