Missile man’s new mission is to make nuclear weapons ineffective

Missile Man A P J Abdul Kalam, who guided India’s ballistic missiles project, has now made it a mission of his life to make the same nuclear weapons “ineffective, insignificant and politically inconsequential”.

Inaugurating the week-long 1047th birth anniversary celebrations of pontiff of Adi Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara in Bangalore yesterday, President Abdul Kalam shared with the gathering a “beautiful” message he had received from a Jain spiritual leader.

Quoting the Jain monk Acharya Mahapragnaji, whom Kalam described as a “great soul”, the President said “Kalam, God bless you for what you have done with your team. The God Almighty has a bigger mission for you and that is why you are here with me today. I know our country is a nuclear nation now. The mission for you is greater than what you and your team have done, and it is greater than any human being had ever done. The nuclear weapons are proliferating in tens of thousands in the world today. I command with all the divine blessings you and only you to find a solution to make the same nuclear weapons ineffective, insignificant and politically inconsequential”.

Confessing that the command shook him for the first time in his life, Kalam said the message of Acharya Mahapragnaji had been working on him as a challenge since then. “It has become the motto of my life”, Kalam said.

Later in the day, Kalam dedicated to the nation the Thrombosis Research Institute situated at the campus of Narayana Hrudalaya Health City on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Speaking on the occasion, Kalam called upon medical research institutes in the country and abroad to work towards developing a vaccine for against heart disease and stroke.

He said ongoing studies had shown that in addition to cholesterol and other lipids, infection with certain viruses and bacteria cause changes in blood vessels that increase the risk of heart disease. “There is evidence that infection happens very early in life, usually around the age of 2 to 3 years. There is a need to design a unique vaccine to prevent infection and changes in blood vessels”, Kalam said.

He also called upon the medical research institutes to develop a simple and cost effective test for identifying individuals most at risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease at an early age to allow intervention to prevent long-term disability.