His body has been kept at his residence in the Indian capital for people to pay their last respects to the “People’s President”, also known as “India’s Missile Man”.
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Kalam had a long career as a government scientist before becoming president in 2002.
President Putin said that in Russia, Kalam will be remembered as a consistent exponent of closer friendly relations between the two nations who has done a lot for cementing mutually beneficial Russian-Indian cooperation. Mr. Venkatesh, a policeman, was the “missile man’s” driver whenever he used to visit south India during his tenure as President of India.
Dr Kalam passed away today evening.
“The prime minister is going to attend the last rites”, Indian Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told the media when asked if he would be attending the last rites of the former “people’s-President”.
Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik gives tribute through his sand sculpture to India’s former president and scientist, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (83) at Puri beach, some 65 kilometres from Bhubaneswar. All the developed nations too have praised the visionary’s skill and efforts to develop India’s nuclear program.
The government has declared a seven-day national mourning as a mark of respect for Dr. Kalam, who played a stellar role in advancing India’s nuclear programme.
According to reports, Kalam suffered a massive cardiac arrest during the lecture at IIM, Shillong Kalam’s body will be flown to New Delhi on Tuesday for burial. “Abdul Kalam will be held with full military honours on July 30 (Thursday) at 11 a.m.at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu”, the statement said. He received the country’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, in 1997. In his world view, problems of communalism could be solved if there is total literacy, education and health for all, agricultural development and food processing.
The meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressed its profound sorrow at the demise of the former President.
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It was during the Beijing Forum at China in 2012 that Kalam, author of books like “Wings of Fire“, “India 2020” and “Ignited Minds“, had first proposed the thought of how important is a livable planet earth.
