Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was on Monday passed away at a private hospital in Shillong, where he was admitted after suffering a major heart attack.
Reports said that Abdul Kalam, 83, collapsed at the Indian Institute of Management-Shillong while delivering a lecture to the students of the B-school, after he suffered a massive heart attack.
He was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of Bethany Hospital, Shillong. where the doctors tried to revive him.
"The former president was brought almost dead to our hospital. He is in a critical condition. We are trying to revive the patient," John Sailo Ryntathiang, director of Bethany Hospital, told IANS, earlier.
The government has declared 7 days of national mourning upon the passing away of Dr Kalam.
The People's President
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, born in a Tamil Muslim family on October 15, 1937 in Rameswaram was in many ways the ‘people’s President’ and a distinguished scientist.
He was India’s President from 2002 to 2007.
Kalam was a serious scholar and had degrees in physics and aerospace engineering. Called the Missile Man of India, when he served at the Indian Space Research Organistaion and the Defence Research and Development Organisation for close to 40 years.
Kalam also played a major role in India’s nuclear tests in 1998 at Pokharan, Rajastha.
Elected as the nation’s President in 2002, with the support of the then ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress, he served till 2007. After his tenure was over, he returned to his life of education, writing books and articles and delivering lectures.
He was also honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1997.
His father, Jainulabudeen, was a boat owner and his mother, Ashiamma, a housewife. Born in a poor family, he had to support the family by doing odd jobs right from a young age.
