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Such a division would hurt the basic fibre of secularism, on which the country had been built, Sehgal, who is in Chennai as part of her nationwide campaign, told a press conference.
She pointed out that the Muslim majority of Jammu and Kashmir had decided to join India, rejecting the option of remaining a separate nation or of joining Pakistan as it believed that its interests would be protected in secular India.
Pointing out that the suggestion was not a new one, she said the United States had mooted it in the early sixties, with the aim of getting a foothold in the area.
She said the nomination of Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, father of the country's missile programme, by the ruling National Democratic Alliance would send the wrong signals to the world.
When the entire world was against pile up of arms and armed conflict, electing a proponent of missiles as the country's President, would send the wrong signals, she said.
She said dialogue alone, and not armed conflicts, was the solution to the problems faced by the country. Even in Jammu and Kashmir, a solution to the militancy could be found only through talks.
She said she was totally against 'weaponisation' of the country. Money spent on arms purchase could be better utilised for eradication of poverty and unemployment, she said.
Seeking a 'conscience vote' in her favour from the MLAs and MPs who formed electoral college for the presidential poll, she said, "I hope they have conscience".
On the Congress' decision to support Kalam, Sehgal claimed this only showed that the party was drifting away from secularism, which it 'pretends' to be practising.
The then Congress government at the Centre could very well have averted the demolition of the Babri mosque, but it did not do so, she claimed.
Justifying her decision to contest the presidential poll, the Left Front nominee said she had decided to enter the fray only to protect secularism and the Constitution.
PTI
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