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The Left Front's presidential candidate, Colonel Laxmi Sehgal, on Wednesday termed the National Democratic Alliance candidate A P J Abdul Kalam a putla (puppet) of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 88-year-old freedom fighter told reporters at a Bihar government guesthouse in Patna that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar were using Kalam to cover up their 'dirty politics'. "They [the BJP] may use him as a rubber stamp if he becomes President," she said.
The BJP chose Kalam to portray itself as pro-Muslim, but everyone knows how pro-Muslim that party is if Gujarat is anything to go by, she remarked.
Sehgal made it clear that she was against the BJP. "I believe in protecting the idea of the Indian Constitution, which is 'We the People of India', but the BJP is destroying it and the country as well," she said.
There is a great difference between the BJP's Hindutva and Hinduism, she continued. The BJP's brand is spreading poison to gain political power in the name of religion while true Hinduism never teaches hatred and violence.
Sehgal said that if she became President, she would never allow anyone to use her. "I will certainly assert my right and prove my fighting spirit," she remarked.
She said she was contesting the election like a fauji (soldier) for a cause without bothering about defeat and would fight to her last breath to safeguard freedom and protect national unity and integrity.
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