As one of the greatest Indians to be born is laid to rest, I took a few moments of reflect on how President Kalam changed the course of history for India ........
1) Pokran Nuclear Test - It was a well known fact that India did possess nuclear capability since the 1970s, however no government had the courage or the conviction to operationalise this capability. Atal Bihar Vajpayee had demonstrated great amount of political courage ... but this brave step was due to confidence of Dr Kalam who managed to execute and complete all test in a highly constrained time frame. Execution was so flawless that not a single intelligence agency in the world had a clue on what India was upto.
2) India's missile program - Post the nuclear test came sanctions. It was believed that with a blanket ban on sale of missile technology to India, our defence program was collapse. The sanctions only encouraged Dr Kalam and team to indigenously build every component ... there cannot be a better poster child of Swadeshi or Make in India than Dr Kalam's missile program
3) Preventing Sonia Gandhi from becoming PM - After victory in the 2004 elections, Sonia Gandhi was all set to be the PM of India. It is believed that only after questions were raised on her eligibility due to her dual citizenship that she backed out. Dr Kalam was never a politician in a true sense but he was never shy of taking on politicians .....be it by returning the Office of Profit Bill ( a law whose sole beneficiary was Sonia Gandhi) or questioning the role of Central government in destabilising state governments as in Bihar
But more than all of the above, Dr Kalam went on to inspire a nation .... he made us believe that with handwork, determination, courage, strength and knowledge ..... no task is impossible
Dr Kalam's life demonstrates that in gentle ways , you can change the world.
Thank you Dr Kalam .....
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