Kalam's Statue Unveiled In Rameswaram

Commemorating Kalam's first death anniversary, a life-size statue was unveiled at Peikarumbu in his hometown at Rameswaram on Wednesday. Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Manohar Parrikar unveiled the statue. Inaugurating the bronze statue, he said, "Dr Kalam will live forever in our minds and hearts. His thoughts continue to be with us all the time". "It is difficult still to believe that Dr Kalam passed away and that this great man left all of us for his heavenly abode," he said.

Mr Naidu and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also laid the foundation stone for a national memorial for the 'Missile man' of India in Rameswaram. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid homage to the late president, saying the void left by him is "irreplaceable". "It's been a year since our beloved Dr APJ Abdul Kalam left us & created a void that is irreplaceable (sic)," he wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter. "My tributes to this great personality," he said. Kalam passed away on July 27, 2015 after suffering a massive cardiac arrest.