Man is born to die. But the death of Abdul Kalam, former President of India, is not only a great loss to India it is a huge loss to mankind. Born in a simple Muslim family he was a bachelor, life-long vegetarian and an adherent to teachings of Bhagavad Gita. His interaction with Pramukh Swami ji and frequent visits to BAPS (AV Aug 1) clearly indicate his spiritual inclination.
Along with historians and academics namely Dr. David Frawley (Vamadev Shastri), Profs Subash Kak, George Feuerstein, S.R. Rao, James Shaffer, Bhagawan Singh, Navaratna Rajaram and some others I was involved in a campaign to abrogate the fake Aryan invasion theory of Frederick Max Muller & Co, rewriting of Indian history and reform of Indian education. There was vehement opposition from so-called leftist intellectuals – Romila Thapar, Vidula Jaiswal, R.S. Sharma and B.N. Mukherjee. As a strong supporter of the campaign President Abdul Kalam wrote personal letters to them asking for explanation of their opposition with appropriate evidence. There was no response from any of them. This campaign enabled me to know him through a personal meeting with him in Rashtrapati Bhawan discussing Indian education reform.
His brilliant inventive engineering mind and practical vision had led to successful missile technology, space programme and security of India. I believe history will judge him to be the greatest President since independence.
Jatindra Saha
By email
