NEW DELHI: The body of ‘People’s President’ A P J Abdul Kalam was brought to 10 Rajaji Marg,which had been his home here for the last seven years, on Tuesday afternoon, a day after his sudden demise. Schoolchildren lined both sides of the road to bid him farewell as the flower-bedecked gun carriage carrying the former President’s mortal remains moved past them. Kalam’s funeral will be held on Thursday in his birthplace Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, with full military honours.
Earlier, the mortal remains were airlifted to the Palam technical area of the IAF station here on a C-130 Super Hercules aircraft. Along the way, in Guwahati, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi paid respects to the departed soul. Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan accompanied the body. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the body and a tri-services guard of honour was accorded to the former President. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the three Service Chiefs paid their last respects to Kalam at the IAF station.
At Kalam’s residence, President Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and the Prime Minister paid homage.