Shame on India. While no major public institution in India has put up a statue for its famous, ‘People’s President’ Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the iconic Jaffna Public Library in northern Sri Lanka has stolen the credit.

Kalam’s statue was inaugurated on Friday amid a huge gathering of cheering student admirers there. Jaffna, a stop on the last foreign trip that Dr Kalam undertook before his sudden death in July 2015, mourned his death with posters all over its walls. This just shows how Sri Lankan Tamils value their culture and education. During his visit to Jaffna a month before he breathed his last, ethnic Tamils gave Dr Kalam a rousing reception.

The statue of Dr Kalam has been installed at the “India Corner” of the now refurbished Jaffna Public Library and was inaugurated by Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinha and Chief Minister of Northern Province, C. Wigneswaran in the presence of A. Natarajan, Indian Consul General in Jaffna.

No major institutions, except the DRDO of which Dr Kalam was chief, has a bust of the celebrated President, who stressed on educating the masses to make India a super power by 2020. A few schools and private institutions have installed statues of Dr Kalam at their own expense, but the Indian Government has not thought it fit to erect a statue for the man most loved by post-independent Indian youth in this land of a million and more statues.

The statue at the Jaffna Public Library, installed by the Indian Government, has been unveiled in memory of Dr Kalam's historic address at the Jaffna University in 2012 where he spoke of his dream for youth of the northern province to land in well-settled jobs.

Jaffna had a special place in Dr Kalam's heart since his fifth grade Maths teacher in Rameswaram, Kanagasundaranath, hailed from the city. Dr Kalam also spoke fondly of his teacher from Jaffna in his address, which also stressed the need for creation of atmosphere where in all communities of Sri Lanka lived in peace.

“I did not learn just Maths from him (Kanagasundaranath), but also learnt values and great lessons of life. He belongs to Jaffna and I am happy to be in Jaffna today,” Dr Kalam had said during his address.

The public library in Jaffna, the capital of the northern province of Sri Lanka, was burnt down in 1980s during the heights of the ethnic crisis and rose from its ashes a decade ago. It now gets the distinction of boasting of the first statue of Dr Kalam outside India.

Speaking about the Sri Lanka visit, Dr Kalam’s former aide V. Ponraj said the former President kept talking about the future of the island nation and Tamils there even during his flight back from Jaffna.  “He got such a rousing reception in Jaffna that no Indian leader would have got. His address at the Jaffna University was historic,” Ponraj said.

(Deccan Chronicle)