New Delhi: President APJ Abdul Kalam, preparing to leave the Rashtrapati Bhavan after five eventful years, on Friday said the returning the Office of Profit Bill was the most testing time for him during his tenure in the country's highest office.
"The most difficult and testing time for me was when I had to return the Office of Profit Bill to Parliament," the President said as he looked back at his tenure and went down memory lane during an interaction with the press crops of Delhi at a tea party hosted in the chandeliered Ashoka Hall. Kalam shook hands with over 150 journalists who lined up to greet him on the occasion.
Seventy-five-year-old Kalam, who became the first President to return the Bill that exempted 56 posts, had asked the MPs to reconsider it to have a 'comprehensive and generic' criteria besides making it 'fair and reasonable' and applicable in a "clear and transparent" manner across all states and Union Territories.
Asked why did he not contest for a second term, Kalam said: "I was always for a consensus. As no consensus emerged on my name, I did not want the Rashtrapati Bhavan to become a part of the political process. So I decided not to contest."
Kalam, popularly known as the people's President, said he would go back to teaching immediately after he demits office. "To begin with, I will be going to Anna University in Chennai on July 26, followed by the Rural University in Wardha in Maharashtra," he said.
He has also given his consent to being a visiting professor at Nalanda University in Bihar, Gandhi University in Tamil Nadu and the Space University in Thiruvananthapuram. Kalam, who will shift immediately to a guesthouse within Delhi Cantonment, said he would miss the Rashtrapati Bhavan's gardens.
"I will miss the 11 gardens," said Kalam, who set up a herbal garden and a special section for red roses in the Mughal Garden. Asked how he was going to compensate for the gardens, Kalam said: "I will imagine as imagination is a great power of creating beautiful things in the mind."
Asked if he would favour a politico to be President, Kalam said: "Whoever comes here should be a people's President. Rashtrapati Bhavan should be People's Bhavan."
Curious scribes wanted to know the fate of the mercy petition submitted by Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for his role in the attack on Parliament. "It is in various stages and has not come back as yet," he said. Clad in a grey bandhgala suit, Kalam mingled with the scribes at the session, answering queries on issues ranging from his future plans to past experiences.
(With PTI inputs)
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