India, March 16 -- Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday slammed caste politics, saying that a person's greatness is determined by qualities and not by caste, religion, or gender.

Addressing the convocation ceremony of Central India Group of Institutions in Nagpur, Gadkari declared that he wouldn't compromise on caste politics even if it ends up hurting him in polls.

"When Dr Abdul Kalam became a nuclear scientist, he achieved so much that his name reached everyone across the world. I believe that a person does not become great by caste, sect, religion, language, or sex, but by qualities. That is why we will not discriminate against anyone based on caste, sect, religion, language, or sex," Gadkari told the gathering.

According to th...