Exclusive Interview - I believe Meira Kumar is capable of standing on her own without the crutch of her caste and gender

Ms. Malini Nair is a compulsive traveller, a hobby photographer, a self trained painter and now a published Author. Ms. Malini, the author of recently published book Flotsam of the Mind and an active feminist and philanthropist. Let's ask to Ms. Malini what does she think about coming Presidential Elections and candidate meira kumar ?

Ms. Malini Nair

During era of women empowerment and after seeing successful tenure of Ex President Pratibha Patil, the name of Meira Kumar has come forward. But some issues related to her caste are emerging after her nomination inspite of her successful role as Lok Sabha speaker. What do you think such issues affect the minds of people?

To my mind women empowerment means equal opportunities and responsibilities for both sexes. To that extent I believe both candidates must be evaluated per their credentials and contributions towards their respective duties. In the end the candidate found more suitable and worthy of the position basis merit must be chosen for the job. This I hold true for all such situations. Women do not need things served on a platter, they just need the opportunity for a fair contest. It is unfortunate that political parties need to bring in caste and gender to an otherwise fair contest. I believe Meira Kumar is capable of standing on her own without the crutch of her caste and gender. It really shouldn't even be up for discussion (her caste before and after marriage). And people need to evaluate her candidacy purely on merit without letting caste be an influence.

What do you think of elections-  are they ideology based or caste based? And how do they play role in society for selection of well deserved candidates?

Interestingly political parties run on both. Ideologies and concrete promises are meant for the manifesto and caste and religion etc for campaigns. That is to say politicians use strategic as well as tactical methods to win elections. We may be a secular country on paper but there is a huge cultural, economical, regional, communal divide amongst us and it is often used by various political parties to sway like minded groups towards the party's own benefits. Caste is and has been used by almost all parties at one time or another as an agenda to garner support for their political aspirations. And sometimes such strategies (not always but many times) may end up offering poor leadership choices which in turn result in disappointment in terms of progress and will eventually lead to people losing faith in efficacy of the system itself. Ideally such politics must be eradicated but it is easier said than done. We see this culture of people befriending colleagues from their own caste and religion even in regular corporate environments. It is then easy for politicians to exploit such mentality for personal gain. Ideally candidates must be picked for their contributions towards betterment of the nation and society in general and their eligibility to serve the people not basis caste, religion or gender.

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