Few 21st century Indian leaders enjoyed kind of popular support Kalam had: Time.
AB Wire
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WASHINGTON, DC: Major US newspapers paid tributes to the 11th President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who died in Shillong on Monday of a heart attack. Nearly all the obituaries they ran highlighted the role Kalam played in the development of India’s nuclear and missile programs.
In a report titled “A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Ex-President Who Pushed a Nuclear India, Dies at 83,” the New York Times wrote that the former president’s “celebrity could be traced to” the country’s nuclear tests in 1998.
“Described at the time as an ‘impish, shaggy-haired bachelor’ of 66, he was one of the most exuberant boosters of the country’s nuclear program,” the paper added. “In the years leading up to the tests, he was so frustrated with the government’s reluctance to approve them that he threatened to leave his post.”
“He encouraged the development of India’s first indigenous satellite launch vehicle that brought the country into an elite club of space-faring nations and guided India’s missile-development program,” the Wall Street Journal wrote.
US newspapers also highlighted Kalam’s man of the people personality.
The Time magazine wrote: “Although the office of the President in India is a largely ceremonial one, with the Prime Minister as the de facto head of state, Kalam used his tenure to reach out to the masses — India’s youth in particular — which earned him the moniker the People’s President.”
It added that “Few Indian leaders in the 21st century enjoyed the kind of popular support experienced by Kalam, evidenced by the near-unanimous backing of his election as India’s 11th President in 2002 among all the parties across India’s fractious political spectrum, as well as the overwhelming outpouring of grief at his death.”
The Washington Post recalled that, “During his term in the office, Kalam opened the imposing gates of the presidential palace and made it more accessible to ordinary Indians by hosting schoolchildren, farmers and scientists.”
The newspapers also noted the respect the former president commanded across the political spectrum. “[He] was embraced by both the left-leaning Indian National Congress party and the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party,” the New York Times pointed out.
1 Comment
It would have better if these newspapers had also highlighted the equal opportunities Indian democracy gives to its people to achieve great heights…irrespective of their social, economic or religious backgrounds.