A. P. J. Kalam collapsed during a
lecture at a management institute in the north-eastern Indian city of Shillong,
and was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Bethany hospital.
The former Indian president , who played a lead role in the country’s nuclear weapons tests, died on Monday at age 83, a hospital official said.
“We tried to revive him but
couldn’t,” John Sailo, the hospital medical superintendent told AFP, without
giving further details about the cause of his death.
India declared seven days
of national mourning for Avul Pakir JainulabdeenAbdul Kalam, who served as
India’s 11th president between 2002 and 2007, as is standard after the death of
a former leader.
His body will be flown to
New Delhi on Tuesday, local media reported.
India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi plaid tribute to Kalam, who was elected to the top post during
the previous Bharatiya Janata Party rule saying he had “always marvelled at his
intellect learnt so much from him”.
“India mourns the loss of a
great scientist, a wonderful president and above all an inspiring individual,”
his office said in a statement.
An acclaimed scientist and
author, Kalam was known as the “people’s president” during his time in office
and continued to reach out to young people with his scientific lectures after
leaving office.
Home minister Rajnath Singh
described him as “an inspiration to an entire generation” in a post on Twitter.
Born to a poor family of
boatman in Rameswaram, a coastal town in southern Tamil Nadu state on October
15, 1931, Kalam sold newspapers as a child to help his family financially.
He rose through the ranks
to become a top scientist at India’s defence research organisation, where he
worked for four decades helping to develop the country’s home grown weapon’s
programme, earning him the moniker “India’s missile man”.
He also played a pivotal
role in India’s nuclear weapons tests in 1998.
After his presidential
term, Kalam returned to academics and regularly delivered lectures at top
Indian universities. He also published a best seller autobiography entitled
“Wings of fire” in 1999.
No comments:
Post a Comment