Senior leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday described his fight for President post against BJP nominee Droupadi Murmu as a “battle between two opposing ideologies” in which one throttles the Constitution and wants the First Citizen to be just a “rubber stamp” while the other where he aligns is determined to save the Republic.
The 84-year-old Opposition candidate will be leaving for Jharkhand, his home state, where he will launch his campaign on Friday. The decision was taken at a meeting of his campaign committee here, which was attended among others by Congress’ Jairam Ramesh, NCP’s KK Sharma and Sudheendra Kulkarni among others.
Sinha, in a statement, made it clear that it was “not a contest of individuals” and that he has “high regard” for Murmu, with whom he had the “pleasure of interacting” when she was Jharkhand Governor. Sinha was declared the joint candidate of the Opposition, and Murmu was named by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for the July 18 Presidential election on Tuesday.
Wishing Murmu well in the election, Sinha said: “This is a battle between two opposing ideologies. Leaders of one ideology are hellbent on throttling the Constitution. They believe India’s Rashtrapati should not function with a mind of her/his own and should merely serve as a rubber stamp to do the government’s bidding.”
“I am proud to belong to the other ideology that is determined to save the Constitution and the Republic,” the 84-year-old former Union Minister said in the one-page statement.
He said after filing his nomination on June 27, he is planning to visit as many state capitals as he can and meet leaders and lawmakers of “all political parties” to seek their support.
“Overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude” towards the Opposition for unanimously choosing him as their common candidate, Sinha said if elected, he will “conscientiously” uphold, without fear or favour, the basic values and guiding ideals of the Constitution.
“In particular, as the custodian of the Constitution, I shall not allow the light of democracy and secularism to be dimmed by the executive. I shall not allow the independence and integrity of democratic institutions to be weaponised against political opponents, as is happening now. I shall do my utmost to ensure that the majesty of the Indian Parliament will remain safe from the attacks by the forces of authoritarianism,” the statement read.
Emphasising that the country is going through difficult times, he said he would raise his voice for the common people: farmers, workers, unemployed youths, women and all marginalised sections of the society.
He also referred to the “ongoing attacks on the federal structure” of the Constitution where the Centre is “attempting to rob the state governments of their legitimate rights and powers”. He said it would be treated as “totally unacceptable”.
“I shall also use the authority of my office to check the menacing power of ill-gotten money that is killing the soul of Indian democracy and making a mockery of people’s mandate in elections,” he said in the statement.