APJ Abdul Kalam will always inspire us: PM Modi pays tribute to India’s Missile Man

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul served as president for five years from 2002, enjoying the support of both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid his tributes to the former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam on his 88th birth anniversary.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday paid his tributes to the former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam on his 88th birth anniversary. HT Photo by Sunil Saxena JUNE2010

“A humble tribute to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam ji on his birth anniversary. He dreamed of an able and capable India of the 21st century and made his own special contribution in this direction. His ideal life will always inspire the countrymen,” the Prime Minister tweeted in Hindi.

“India salutes Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Ji on his Jayanti,” Modi added.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul served as president for five years from 2002, enjoying the support of both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.

Born on October 15, 1931, in Tamil Nadu’s Rameshwaram, Kalam was closely involved in the country’s civilian space programme and military missile development efforts, earning him the sobriquet ‘India’s Missile Man’.

APJ Abdul Kalam worked as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) before he became president.

He also played a pivotal technical and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, shortly after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government came to power.

Kalam suffered a cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture to the students of IIM Shillong on July 27, 2015.