{"id":1509,"date":"2002-06-21T01:05:01","date_gmt":"2002-06-21T06:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1509"},"modified":"2002-06-21T01:05:01","modified_gmt":"2002-06-21T06:05:01","slug":"indias_missile_man_prepares_to_take_presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/06\/indias_missile_man_prepares_to_take_presidency\/","title":{"rendered":": India&#8217;s &#8216;Missile Man&#8217; Prepares to Take Presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><img><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"right\">\n<div class=\"caption\"><\/div>\n<p><\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abdulkalam.com\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Abdul Kalam<\/a>, the architect of India\u2019s ballistic missile program and father of its nuclear arsenal, is set to become the <a href=\"http:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Farticleshow.asp%3Fart_id%3D12606831\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">next President<\/a> of that country in elections next week, now that the opposition <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gulf-news.com%2FArticles%2Fnews.asp%3FArticleID%3D54338\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Congress party<\/a> \u2013 in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rediff.com%2Fnews%2F2002%2Fjun%2F11pres3.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">reversal<\/a> of last week\u2019s position \u2013 has thrown its weight behind him. The 70 year old nuclear scientist was nominated in early June by the ruling NDA party of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Although the Indian presidency is a largely ceremonial post, the fact that Abdul Kalam is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com%2Fnonfram%2F120602%2Fdlnat11.asp\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Muslim<\/a> highlights the delicate political maneuvering going on in Delhi (not to mention his military background). Although Abdul Kalam is the third Muslim to hold the post, his nomination comes at a time of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sunspot.net%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fbal-india-pakistan12.story%3Fcoll%3Dbal%252Dnationworld%252Dheadlines\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">unprecedented tension<\/a> between India and Muslim Pakistan. Furthermore, his nomination by the Vajpayee\u2019s VHP party have led some accuse them of tokenism.  While being a very visible and proud Muslim (he most recently used his position to decry the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hinduonnet.com%2Fthehindu%2Fholnus%2F01191403.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">killings in Gujurat<\/a>), Abdul Kalam is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com%2Fnonfram%2F150602%2Fdlnat46.asp\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">fiercely loyal<\/a> to the State of India (his colleagues call him a \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.top-biography.com%2F9174-Abdul%2520Kalam%2Findex1.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">200% Indian<\/a>\u201c) and is a strong defender of the <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk%2Fhi%2Fenglish%2Fworld%2Fsouth_asia%2Fnewsid_2053000%2F2053271.stm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">nuclear deterrence<\/a> policy he helped create.<\/p>\n<p><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amidst anxieties over war, an unlikely candidate for the President of India emerges &#8211; the Muslim creator of India&#8217;s ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>: India&#8217;s &#8216;Missile Man&#8217; Prepares to Take Presidency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amidst anxieties over war, an unlikely candidate for the President of India emerges - the Muslim creator of India&#039;s ballistic missile program.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/06\/indias_missile_man_prepares_to_take_presidency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": India&#8217;s &#8216;Missile Man&#8217; 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