I n school days, the civics teacher often described the President of India as friend, philosopher and guide. As a child I used to doubt her because the personalities who occupied the position at that time could not create that kind of impression on me. But then came Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and I realised what the teacher meant.
Here was a President who could reach out to a kid and a head of the state with equal ease. Here was a public intellectual who could engage the last man in the row and a top rung scientist with equal felicity. And if anybody thought he was just a man of numbers and statistics, he would stump people with his knowledge of music and spiritualism. For him Rashtrapati Bhavan was not a place to rest and look back at an eventful career. Instead he used it to reach out to people across the country with his vision of ‘Developed India by 2020’.
We are closer to the date and there are still many gaps that need to be bridged. So over the years as one began to feel worldly wise, a perception emerged that Dr. Kalam was an idealist, who didn’t understand the pragmatic side of Indian politics. However, a recent book on the life and times of Dr. Kalam makes the cynics revisit their analysis of the Missile Man. Penned by S.M. Khan, “The People’s President” (Bloomsbury) not only opens a window to the lesser known aspects of Dr. Kalam’s life but also puts some of his decisions in perspective.
Khan was his Press Secretary and was in touch with him till the end. “I was very close to Dr. Kalam during five years of his presidency as well as subsequently. My last meeting with him was three days before his death. Since his demise, I was planning to write a book on him. On 15th August 2015 during the At Home ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He prompted me to write something on Dr. Kalam,” says Khan, who is now Registrar General of Newspapers for India.
Khan says Dr. Kalam’s appeal cut across religion, caste community and region. “Thousands of people used to turn up on roads to greet him. Such response is usually reserved for top political leaders. It created jealously in a section of political class and one of the reasons he was not given a second term was his popularity.” In the same vein, Khan adds that there was one shortcoming in him otherwise he would have matched Mahatma Gandhi in terms of mass appeal. “He didn’t know Hindi and Urdu. In fact, I was surprised considering the kind of person he was, he didn’t learn even conversational Hindustani.” Khan used to interpret his speeches for Hindi-Urdu audience simultaneously. “Once in Saifai stadium, in front of thousands of people, he first appreciated Mulayam Singh Yadav for his work in his native village and then advised he should do it for other villages in the state as well. I had to convey this in Hindi!” Interestingly, it was Mulayam Singh Yadav who taught Dr. Kalam some sentences in Hindi during his tenure as the Defence Minister.
A COVALENT BOND Dr. Kalam with Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the fifth spiritual successor of Saint Swaminarayan. He co-wrote a book “Transcendence: My Spiritual experiences with Pramukh Swamiji”
Coming to his interest in a second term, Khan admits it was the only time when there was a criticism of him in a section of the media as to why he was exploring the possibility of a second term. Khan insists he was not inclined and had already decided to move to teaching. “But some leaders of the opposition tried to impress upon him that if he gets a second term it will be good for the country to realise his vision of Developed India by 2020. He told them that he would be in fray only if there is a consensus or majority support in his favour. So when the Bahujan Samaj Party decided to support the Congress candidate, I told him that there is no chance of consensus or winning.” During the period, Khan says the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh also visited him and advised him not to contest otherwise it would be very embarrassing for the ruling party. “He never wanted to create a logjam. It also reflected in the way he handled the legal and constitutional issues. He was the first President to return a bill to Parliament for reconsidering under Article 111 of the Constitution,” says Khan referring to the Office of Profit Bill.
“He could have sat over it and allowed it to lapse like Giani Zail Singh once did with the Post Office (Amendment) Bill. He didn’t want a confrontation but at the same time he wanted to make his point of view clear. Similarly, he declined his assent to an ordinance relating to an amendment in the Representation of the People Act 1951.” He was criticised by some politicians but later the Supreme Court declared it null and void and in a way agreed with the views of Dr. Kalam on complete transparency in public life.” However, according to Khan, the biggest constitutional and moral dilemma for Dr Kalam came in February 2005 when he signed the proclamation of dissolution of Bihar Assembly on the advice of the Union Cabinet. When the Supreme Court declared the proclamation unconstitutional, Dr. Kalam offered to quit.
“It was difficult to persuade him that he was not at fault. He was in Moscow at the time of signing the document and no other party contacted him to present a contrary point of view. He only had the Governor’s recommendation and the Vidhan Sabha was already in suspended animation,” reflects Khan.
Many forget that before the lasting image of a teacher took over, Dr. Kalam played a key role in the Pokharan II nuclear test where he assumed the identity of Major General Prithviraj and Khan captures that side of his personality in a chapter called Man of Courage. The chapter also brings out the political sagacity of former Prime Minster P.V. Narasimha Rao. “After the loss in May 1996 General Elections, Rao called Dr. Kalam, who was the Principal Scientific Advisor, in the presence of Prime Minster designate Atal Bihari Vajpayee to brief him on the nuclear programme.” It was like passing the nuclear codes in the American Presidential system. Agrees Khan, “This reveals the maturity of a statesman who believed that the nation is bigger than the political system. Of course, the country had to wait for two more years for the nuclear test when Vajpayeeji returned with a majority. During this period Dr. Kalam kept the secret safe with him.”
Rising above one’s socio-religious identity also meant that Dr. Kalam had to face some cynics, who doubted his faith. Khan says he lived the life of a true Muslim but had high respect for all other religions and believed that humanism is the biggest quality of a human being. “He would perform namaaz everyday but also read Bhagwat Gita. Playing veena has nothing to do with religion. For him religion was a personal matter and used to emphasise that one should not make it a matter of pomp and show. He used to say in your dealings with the society you have to be a humanist.” Dr. Kalam often used to cite the story of how his mentor Vikram Sarabhai asked for church land for scientific research and got it because the bishop believed that both science and spirituality seek the Almighty’s blessings for human prosperity, mind and body.
However, the best expression of Dr. Kalam’s faith came from an agnostic who believed that science and religion cannot go together till he met Dr. Kalam. Khushwant Singh once wrote, “No rationalist can dispute Kalam’s vision of divinity. Some define God as truth; others as love. Kalam’s concept of godliness is Compassion.” Isn’t all that we need today?
