BJP parliamentary party condoles Kalam's death

The BJP parliamentary party on Tuesday paid tributes to former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and passed a resolution condoling his death.

"Yesterday (Monday), we received very sad news that India had lost a ratna (jewel)," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing the BJP parliamentary party meet.

Modi said Kalam was a "rashtra ratna" (country's jewel) first and then a president, adding that "Kalam's personality was special".

"Kalam would always say he is a teacher and an educator. After the presidency also, he went on to teach," he added.

The party parliamentarians observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the former president.

Modi said "Kalam's life inspires us; it inspires the youth".

"Can anyone imagine that a newspaper delivery boy is making headlines today all over the world? What one can achieve and how one can reach from bottom to top, Dr Kalam was the best example," the prime minister said.

"He was a simple man with extraordinary abilities," he added.

The BJP parliamentary party adopted a resolution condoling the death of Kalam.

In another resolution, the parliamentary party also condoled the loss of lives in the terror attack in Dinanagar town of Gurdaspur district in Punjab on Monday.

BJP president Amit Shah, senior party leader L.K. Advani and union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parikkar were also present at the meeting.

Kalam died on Monday evening in a private hospital in Shillong after he collapsed while delivering a lecture to students of the Indian Institute of Management-Shillong.