This refers to the report, “Gita, Veena with Kalam's statue upset Congress, Dravidians”, (July 31). It is unfortunate that addition of the Bhagavad Gita and a veena to the statute of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, at his memorial at Peikarumbu, near Rameswaram, should have created controversy. Probably, Kalam himself would have regarded the Gita being placed on the podium as a recognition of his ‘roots and the Indian tradition’ as he understood it. The row over whether it was the right thing to do is completely unnecessary. Parties opposed to the BJP should not make it their business to portray Abdul Kalam as someone he was not. He was reputed to not have accepted Allah as the only god and the Quran as the inviolable word of faith.
A man of great learning, he was well-versed in Tamil literature and his favourite daily reading included the couplets of Thirukural. Thanks to the personality he had, he became a national hero, and cultural icon — the ‘people's President’. At the same time, his immense popularity bordering on deification cannot be de-linked from his identification with the ‘nationalist cause’ espoused by the upper crust of the society. Abdul Kalam shared BJP's vision of India and favoured its model of development. His involvement with India's missile and nuclear research programme won him the nickname, ‘Missile Man of India’.