Photography at Kalam memorial banned

The wooden replica of the Bhagavad Gita place alongside Kalam’s statue inside the memorial stirred a controversy and debate. To silence the criticisms, Saleem, grandson of Kalam, placed The Bible and The Quran next to the Bhagavad Gita. But Hindu Makkal Katchi cadres protested outside the memorial demanding removal of both the sacred texts.

Succumbing to pressure, the texts were removed and later shifted to a glass box. Similarly, an original text of the Bhagavad Gita was placed near the wooden replica of Bhagavad Gita. In the evening, the two sacred texts went missing from the glass box and it created a confusion again. Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials carried out investigation at the memorial regarding the missing texts and in the meantime Hindu Makkal Katchi filed a complaint at Thangachimadam Police against Saleem.

However, after the controversy of missing sacred texts was raised the DRDO officials placed the The Quran and The Bible back in the glass box and said that the books were removed only to clean the glass box.

As the photo of missing texts appeared in the media DRDO officials had prohibited photography inside the memorial and this had disappointed tourists. Devadarshini, a tourist from Salem, said that whenever Kalam visited a school or graced a function, he would love to take photos with the children but now photography had been banned in the memorial without any proper announcement.” Another difficulty faced by the tourists was the closure of the main gate of the memorial. Though Modi had inaugurated the memorial the main gate was closed and tourists are allowed only through the side entrance.