Democracy, caste system can not coexist: Former LS speaker Meira Kumar

New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI) Democracy and the caste system can not co-exist, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar said at the All India Speakers Conference held at the Delhi Assembly on Monday.

Delivering the keynote address on the second day of the conference, Kumar, who was the first woman speaker of the Lok Sabha, said the caste system has done with society what 'Amarbel' (a parasitic creeper plant) does with the tree on which it grows.

"Equality and inequality cannot exist together. It is possible that inequality thrives with a false exterior of equalitarian democracy wrapping around the caste system," she said.

Kumar said democracy and the caste system can not coexist. "Like the Amarbel dries up the tree on which it grows, thereby sustaining itself, the caste system does the same with the society." She asserted that establishing equality is the "soul" of democracy, which will ultimately become lifeless without it.

Kumar highlighted the contribution of Vitthalbhai Patel, the first Indian to be elected to the Central Legislative Assembly during British rule, saying his struggles and experience inspired her while chairing the Lok Sabha sessions.

The All India Speakers Conference, hosted for the first time by the Delhi Assembly, marked the centenary of Patel being elected as the first Indian speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly.

A special commemorative postal stamp was released by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the inauguration of the two-day conference on Sunday. PTI VIT VIT NSD NSD