The AAP government has reportedly decided to set up a “Knowledge Centre” in memory of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam at Delhi Haat in INA Market. Delhi tourism minister Kapil Mishra, along with a team of officials, will be visiting Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu on April 5 to bring back books and other belongings of Kalam to the national capital.
A highly placed source said that Mr Mishra had earlier planned to visit Rameshwaram on Sunday. “Because of reports suggesting that PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is to take oath as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, he has rescheduled his visit as he wants to hold a protest in Delhi. Mr Mishra had been demanding that Ms Mufti should also say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” before taking over as the CM.”
There are indications that the government will be opening the “Knowledge Centre” before Dr Kalam’s death anniversary on July 27. “Till the time the Centre is opened, Kalam’s belongings, including his veena and books, will be kept inside the Delhi Assembly,” a senior officer told this newspaper.
The opening of the centre had created a major controversy with the Centre rejecting Kalam’s family’s request that the same be set up at the former President’s official residence at 10, Rajaji Marg, in the national capital. The Centre had instead allotted the two-storey bungalow to Mahesh Sharma, the junior culture minister who had controversially described the former President as a “nationalist and humanist despite being a Muslim.”
While Kalam’s family was keen to convert his residence into a “Centre for Knowledge,” they could not convince the Centre owing to the existing rules in Delhi. Upset over the Centre’s rejection, Kalam’s nephew Haja Syed Ibrahim had even quit the BJP. He had joined the saffrom brigade in 2012. He was appointed as a state vice-president for the BJP’s minority wing. Soon after the Centre’s rejection to set up a memorial in the name of Kalam, the AAP government on its own came forward and announced setting up of the “Knowledge Centre” in Delhi. In a thanksgiving letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Kalam’s elder brother A.P.J. Mohammad Muthur Meeran Lebbai said the former President’s personal library consisting of innumerable collection of unique books may be used by students, aspiring civil servants, practicing professionals and interested citizens. He had suggested that the “National Centre for Knowledge Discovery” could also provide online access to discovery of knowledge to enrich and empower people.
