AMN /
President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the three Service Chiefs of the Armed Forces received the mortal remains of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam at Palm airport in Delhi this afternoon . Dr Kalam who was known as Missile Man and People’s President passed away in Shillong yesterday evening. He was 83. Dr Kalam breathed his last at a hospital in Meghalaya’s capital at 7.45 PM.
They also paid their respects by laying wreaths on the body. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also paid his respects to Dr Kalam among others. The body of Bharat Ratna A P J Abdul Kalam was brought in a special casket wrapped in tricolor on a special Indian Air Force aircraft. Meghalaya governor V Shanmughanathan accompanied the body. A guard of honour was given to former President by the three services at the airport. His body was taken in a gun carriage to his residence in Rajaji Marg where people can pay their respects to the departed leader from 4 PM onward. His funeral will be held tomorrow at his native place in Rameswaram.
Considered as most popular President, Dr Kalam was the 11th head of the state and occupied the post between 2002 and 2007 during the NDA government headed Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A pall of gloom descended on Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, the native place of Dr Kalam, as the news about his death reached his elder brother and other relatives.
Government has announced a 7-day state mourning throughout the country as a mark of respect to the former President. An official statement said New Delhi that during the period of the mourning, the national flag will fly at half-mast on all the buildings throughout the country where it is flown regularly and there will be no official entertainment.
President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker and a host of dignitaries have condoled the death of Dr Kalam.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, BJP President Amit Shah, Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior BJP leader LK Advani have also condoled the death of Dr Kalam.
Born in a humble family on 15th October in 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, A P J Abdul Kalam went on to become the People’s President of India. The Aeronautical Engineer from Madras Institute of Technology is considered the brain behind India’s missile programme.
During his tenure as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister from July 1992 to December 1999, he led the weaponisation of strategic missile systems and the Pokhran-II nuclear tests, which made India a nuclear weapon state. In 1997, Dr Kalam was conferred Bharat Ratna,the highest civilian awards.
He became the 11th President of India in 2002, with a focus to transform India into a developed nation by 2020. In a recent interview to All India Radio, Dr Kalam said, India will be an economic leader if agriculture, small scale industries, and solar power are developed simultaneously.
Dr Kalam authored numerous inspirational books including India 2020, Wings Of Fire and Ignited Minds. He utilised every opportunity that came to him to address students, especially school children, to dream big. To his last day, Dr Kalam was zealous in his pursuit of igniting young minds. His passing away is the end of an era.