FORMER Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, better known as “People’s president”, from 2002 to 2007 died on Monday at a Shillong hospital after suffering a massive heart attack while lecturing students in the capital of Meghalaya state on Bangladesh border. We deeply mourn his death and recall his contributions and human virtues which as an elderly statesman of our time have enlightened India and the entire region. Since he left the Rastrapati Bhavan in Delhi as India’s 11th President, he was particularly devoting efforts to youth development as he would always say that the key to future lies in the hand of the youth. They must dream big, dreaming small is a crime. In fact, he had defeated all failures behind in his personal career and had expected younger generation to go for achieving something big. He met over 18 million youths in two decades. We are pleased to recollect that the students of Bangladesh did not miss his presence. He addressed 700 students in the capital in October last year when he visited Dhaka and used the occasion to advise them to ‘make their dream, the dream of Bangladesh.’A great physicist and a man of great compassion for people everywhere who rose from abject poverty from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu as a newspaper hawker left no time to steer his way to a decorated scientist of the Indian nation. He became an aeronautical engineer and led the Indian scientists at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to achieve many breakthroughs. Soon he became known as the ‘India’s Missile Man’ having successfully developed civilian space programme and India’s military missile programme. As Chief Scientific Adviser to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, he was instrumental in the Pokhran nuclear test in 1998 which made India a nuclear nation. He was dedicated and patriot and was decorated with the India’s highest civilian award ‘Bharat Ratna’ besides other awards like ‘Padma Bevushan’ and ‘Padma Bhushan’ for his contributions to the nation. He became the President of India during the BJP-led NDA government under Atal Behari Vajpayee and almost unanimously. On his death India has not only lost a famous scientist, a man of virtues and a great inspiration for goodness in human affairs. His death is also a great loss of a good man, meaning well for all, a man of peace and understanding between the people.
