Let’s have a vision and a movement, says Kalam, the President

The spacious central hall of Parliament began filling up 20 minutes before Chief Justice of India B N Kirpal administered oath of office to 71-year-old Kalam. Top VIPs filled one section of the front row: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy PM L K Advani (with former President R Venkataraman ensconced between them), Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former PMs I K Gujral and Deve Gowda.

But it was the other extreme end of the row that held the attention of the diplomats and media in the visitors’ galleries for it was here that Kalam’s brother, P J Muthumeeran Labbai Marakair, conspicuous in his red ‘toupee’, sat with his two pujari friends from the Rameshwaram temple.

At 9.50 am, Kalam was escorted into the hall by Vice-President Krishan Kant, outgoing President K R Narayanan and Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. Soon after the oath-taking ceremony, Kalam and Narayanan switched seats, indicating the change of guard.

In his 10-minute speech, peppered liberally with sayings of Kabir and South Indian seers, Kalam said India was endowed with natural resources, vibrant people and a traditional value system, ‘‘(but) in spite of this, a number of our people are below the poverty line, undernourished and lack primary education. Our aim is to be poverty-free, healthy and literate.’’

The country today, pointed out Kalam, was facing challenges such as cross-border terrorism, internal conflicts and unemployment. ‘‘To face these challenges, there must be a vision to ensure focused action of one billion citizens of this great country with varied capabilities. What can be that vision? Can the Government alone achieve this vision? Now, we need a movement in this country. We will work for it. We cannot emerge as a developed nation if we do not learn to transact with speed.’’

Kalam emphasised his ‘‘unflinching commitment’’ to the principle of secularism, ‘‘which is the cornerstone of our nationhood and the key feature of our civilisational strength…I would like to endeavour to work for bringing about unity of minds among the divergent traditions of our country.’’

Among the few VIPs missing were Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. According to Lok Sabha officials, she had earlier expressed her wish to attend but it wasn’t known why she couldn’t.

Four other CMs, though, were present: J&K’s Farooq Abdullah, Andhra Pradesh’s N Chandrababu Naidu, Karnataka’s S M Krishna and Chhattisgarh’s Ajit Jogi. Among the prominent opposition leaders were Mulayam Singh Yadav and Somnath Chaterjee.

Thirty eight of Kalam’s other relatives and friends (including Y S Rajan, with whom he co-authored India 20:20, Vision for Tomorrow), were spread out in the hall. A beaming Kalam waved at many of them before leaving for Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Among the other heavyweights were Infosys chief N R Narayanmurthy and the two Ambani brothers, Anil and Mukesh. Also present, beside the three Service chiefs, were a number of scientists associated with Kalam in his missile and nuclear programmes, including R Chidambaram and Anil Kakodkar (the trio worked together for Pokhran two), V Kurien and CSIR chief R Mashelkar. And of course, the 100 school children.

Kalam referred to youth and technology several times in his five-page speech which he read out. ‘‘When I travel across our nation,’’ he said, ‘‘I hear the voice of the youth…When can I sing the song of India? What can be the answer?…If youth have to sing the song of India, India should become a developed country which is free from poverty, illiteracy and unemployment and is buoyant with economic prosperity, national security and national harmony.

Saying he was happy to see the children present in the hall, Kalam ended by reciting his ‘song of the youth’.

Soon after the ceremony, Kalam escorted Narayanan to his new house at Prthiviraj Road. Thereafter, the entourage — carrying Kalam in a six-door limousine — turned towards Rashtrapati Bhavan where, by then, the school children were beginning to gather.