New Delhi: Former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s grandnephew APJ Sheikh Salim on Monday quit the BJP in protest against the government’s refusal to declare his bungalow in central Delhi a memorial.
According to Times Now, Salim wanted the 10, Rajaji Marg bungalow in Lutyen’s Delhi to be converted into a memorial for the “people’s President” as APJ was popularly known as. ?The sprawling house is now occupied by controversial Union culture minister Mahesh Sharma.
In a recent TV interview, Sharma had called Bharat Ratna APJ Abdul Kalam “a great man who was a nationalist and humanist despite being a Muslim”, a statement that was widely panned as it came in the middle of a raging debate on intolerance following the lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh over beef.
Salim used to live with Kalam at his official Rajaji Road bungalow till the latter’s death, Times Now said. He had joined the BJP in September this year in the presence of party president Amit Shah, shortly after Kalam’s death in July.
Salim, grandson of the former President’s elder brother APJ Marakaiyer, described himself as a social activist based in their native district Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.
