Nation before individual' is key to peace: RNI DG Khan recites Kalam's line

Hyderabad: Stressing on the importance of believing that the nation is bigger than an individual, S.M. Khan, Director General, Registrar of Newspapers for India, on Saturday said that he learnt about this principle from former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

“It was during my many interactions with him during my tenure as Press Secretary of the former President and even after that that I learnt how important this philosophy was to ensure national integrity, peace and harmony in the country,” Mr Khan said.

Mr Khan also spoke about how Kalam had always stressed on deleting the ‘I’ and ‘me’ from human ego and about the importance the late President gave to maintaining strong inter-faith relations like he himself did.

Kalam's love for Hyderabad was evident by his 22 visits to the city during his tenure as the President and the many years spent working on missile programmes at the DRDL, Mr Khan said.

Mr Khan, who interacted closely with the former President for many years until his death last year on July 27, has almost completing writing his book The People's President APJ Abdul Kalam.

The book is set to be released next month. The Foreword will be by Kalam's elder brother, A.P.J. Maraikyar whom the late President used to consider as a father figure, said Mr Khan.

He was in the city to take part at an event organised by Media Council for Peace and Solidarity of India in the city.  S. Ismail and Prashant Bandari of the Media Council for Peace and Solidarity of India also spoke at the event.