He was an ardent secularist, and also a religious man. For him, religion and morality were the same.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was a multifaceted personality, a statesman and visionary, and above all a good human being. He was a brilliant scientist and modern thinker. When I joined him as Press Secretary after 10 days of his becoming President, at his very first meeting he gave me his vision of a developed India. He spoke of how he wanted to make Rashtrapati Bhavan a people’s place where the voice of the millions of downtrodden people of India would be heard and action taken. Indeed, during his time Rashtrapati Bhavan became the President’s place and he became the people’s President. He wanted that institution of the President to be totally identified with ordinary people.

President Kalam took his Presidency seriously from Day 1. He was as comfortable with constitutional and legal issues as he was with school children. He was committed to nation-building and created a vision document to make India a developed nation by 2020. He made a PowerPoint presentation to senior Ministers and bureaucrats on this...........Read more

Source: The Hindu