HYDERABAD:Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said here on Thursday that the greatest tribute that one can pay to former President A P J Abdul Kalam is to think about poor and their problems at least for a minute.
Speaking after unveiling a lifesize bronze statue of Kalam at the Defence Research Development Laboratory (DRDL) here to mark the departed leader’s 85th birth anniversary, KCR paid rich tributes to the missile man by describing him as India’s tallest leader after Mahatma Gandhi.
“Kalam might be the only one after Gandhi, whose entire life can be taken as a message and can be used to inspire the human kind. He is a great humanist and always believed in preaching things by doing them. He always lead from the front and showed us how one can lead a simple and inspirational life. If we can think about about the poor at least for a minute every day, it would be a greatest tribute that we can pay to Kalam,” he said.
Saying that it was a privilege for him to unveil the statue of Kalam, KCR said if he ever write his biography, then there would be special chapter about Kalam’s contribution to Telangana.
KCR said Kalam demonstrated India’s defence capabilities before the world and he was rightly conferred the highest civilian award of ‘Bharat Ratna’.
“Apart from missiles and other research work, Kalam always thought about the poor. Kalam joined hands with hospitals in Hyderabad to use technological innovations for the benefit of poor patients. He played crucial role is developing cost-effective stent and dental implants,” KCR said. He also thanked the Centre for agreeing to the state government’s proposal of renaming Missile Complex as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex.