Till his passing away in 2015, APJ Abdul Kalam led the life of an ascetic. Not even once his name was associated with any kind of major controversy. He spent his presidential days spreading knowledge and remained above religions and politics. No one at any point of time did try to find out whether he used to perform the daily rituals associated with his religion or has he undertaken the pilgrimage to Mecca for the Haj or Umra.
Two years after his death, politicians and leaders of Islamist outfits are out to drag the name of Kalam obviously for political reasons. Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath, an Islamic outfit, declared on Monday that Kalam has never been a Muslim.
On Sunday, leader of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) an Islamic extremist outfit in Tamil Nadu questioned the propriety of the Defence Research Development Organisation, the alma mater of Kalam, to make a statue of the late President playing the Veena and engraving the inscription of Bhagavat Gita on the statue displayed at the APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial at Rameswaram. Not to be left behind, parties like the DMK, the MDMK and the VCK lambasted the authorities and the BJP for not displaying Thirukkural, the ancient Tamil book of verses and psalms.
By Sunday evening family members of late Kalam kept copies of Quran and Bible near the statue to cool the tempers. But Hindu Makkal Katchi, an outfit staged a demonstration demanding the removal of Quran and Bible from the pedestal of the statue. “Copies of Quran and Bible have been displayed in the memorial. There is no need for exhibiting Quran and Bible near the statue of Kalam playing Veena,” said Arjun Sampath, president, HMK.
But the declaration by Jainulabudeen, president Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath, an outfit with considerable following in the State that Kalam has never been a Muslim shocked the friends and associates of the former president.
“He used to do all those things declared illegal by the Quran. Kalam worshipped idols and prostrated before Hindu monks and seers which is unIslamic. He was having a Muslim name and the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are exploiting it to suit their convenience,” Jainulabudeen said in a statement. He said the community was least bothered what the DRDO or the Sangh Parivar outfts did with the memories of Kalam. “For us, Kalam was not at all a Muslim,” said Jainulabudeen. Doraisamy Kuppuramu, a BJP leader from Rameswaram who was a close associate of the late President blamed the persons who are dragging Kalam’s name into ‘unnecessary’ controversy. “Kalam was neither Hindu, Christian or Muslim. He was Rameswaram’s global son. This controversy has been created to tarnish the reputation of the late President and for political reasons,” said Kuppuramu.