After APJ Abdul Kalam's death, a spat over his Facebook, Twitter accounts

It has only been a week since APJ Abdul Kalam was laid to rest and his associates and aides are already fighting over his social media pages. When long time aide Srijan Pal Singh took to posting on Kalam’s Facebook page, the former president’s office issued a statement disassociating itself from him. [caption id=“attachment_2381154” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  APJ Abdul Kalam. AFP[/caption] A statement from Kalam’s office, available on his website, reads, “Srijan Pal Singh, who was privately associated with Dr Kalam, in his academic pursuits, is giving statements and using social media. We wish to inform all that this office has not authorised him to interact with the media on or about Dr Kalam.” In its statement, Kalam’s office said, “There, this office is not responsible for his statements and social media interactions. Shri Srijanpal Singh has already been adviced to deactivate all the Facebook and Twitter accounts in the name of Dr Kalam or in his memory immideately.” This statement was put out and signed by H Sheridon, who is the executive secretary of Kalam’s office. It was only a few hours after Kalam’s death on 27 June, that Singh took over Kalam’s Facebook page. In a post Singh had said:

Dedicated to your immortal memories… this account will now reflect thoughts of Dr. Kalam and his lessons and missions. Miss you saabSrijan Pal Singh Posted by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: Missions and Memories on  Monday, July 27, 2015

Since that post Singh has been posting regularly on Kalam’s page, but most of the posts are about things Singh has done after the former president’s demise:

My memories of the magic of Dr. Kalam in The Hindu.An obituary I wish never had to be written…srijan@srijanpalsingh Posted by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: Missions and Memories on  Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Posted by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: Missions and Memories on  Thursday, July 30, 2015

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The Times of India quoted V Ponraj, scientific advisor to Kalam for two decades, as saying, _"_The office is not against Singh sharing his experience as a student with Kalam. He has every right to do that. At the same time, he has no right to share things through Kalam’s official pages in social networking sites. There is an office to take care of it." While Ponraj and others in Kalam’s office may be unhappy, Singh claims that it was Kalam who had authorised him to handle his page. Singh told the ToI that he was willing to deactivate the social media pages if the former president’s office didn’t want him to do it. Singh was with Kalam during his trip to IIM Shillong during which he passed away and has also co-authored books with him.