Dr. Apj Abdul Kalam Was India’s President of Uncritical Devotion—A Tribute
OBITUARIES, 3 Aug 2015
Stephen Gill – TRANSCEND Media Service
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was the 11th president of India. It was his education and hard work that led him to touch the highest pinnacle of the glory. He collapsed while delivering a speech at a seminar of Indian Institute of Management in Shillong, India. He died of cardiac arrest at Bethany Hospital in the capital of Meghalaya province on July 27, 2015 in the evening.
He was born in a poor boatman’s Muslim family in a rural area of Tamilnadu, South India. He was given the job of the president of India by the BJP Government in 2002 not because of his politics but because of his achievements as a missile scientist. He was the right choice of the BJP, the Hindu nationalists, who wanted him to build India’s defense system and also to attract Muslim votes. He wrote inspirational poems, remained unmarried, and led a simple life. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, prime minister of the BJP Government, who picked him rightly for the highest position of India, was also a poet, and unmarried.
The subcontinent is burning for a lack of water from an idol of multicultural nature. Religion has penetrated everywhere. After religion, it the fire of caste and sub caste and after caste and sub caste, it is the language and after language it is the economical strata. The subcontinent needs an idol and Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is going to be this idol at least for India.
Dr. Kalam will be remembered for his life of a harmonious marriage between art and knowledge. His ceaseless struggle in the narrow alleys of the bumpy orbits of bigotries to raise a stage for the goddess of peace to dance has set an example. This is an uncommon phenomenon at least in India, where he cultivated a crop of the palpitation of human groans and a glory that is the essence of more than five thousand years old culture. He was respected by the majority as well as by the minority groups. He was easily approachable by the youth. He is rightly known as “people’s president.” It is clear from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s life and belief that he was a genuine child of the multicultural nature of Indian heritage. At this time, when India needs a citizen of uncritical devotion, the legacy of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam shall remain alive for a long long time.
__________________________________
Multiple award winning Stephen Gill has authored more than twenty books, including novels, literary criticism, and collections of poems. He is the subject of doctoral dissertations and research papers. Nine books have been released by scholars and more are to be released on his works. (Websites: www.stephengill.ca; www.stephengillcriticism.info )
©copyright Stephen Gill
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 3 Aug 2015.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Dr. Apj Abdul Kalam Was India’s President of Uncritical Devotion—A Tribute, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.