“Enough is enough,” President A P J Abdul Kalam said on Saturday, explaining his decision not to run for a second term and making it clear that he did not not want to “damage” the name of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He did not want to become a party to a political process, nor did he want the Rashtrapati Bhavan to get “degenerated”, Kalam said during an interaction with journalists here, a day after announcing that he would not be a candidate in the race for his successor.
He said, “In five years’ time in Rashtrapati Bhavan, we have all worked for transforming it into a people’s bhavan.  Rashtrapati Bhavan has become a people’s bhavan today. I believe it should be an example to the nation.”
“That is why I said enough is enough,” he said during a 40-minute interaction which covered questions about his tenure, including the most difficult decision he had to take and his dealings with two Prime Ministers, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.
Kalam said that if a President was interested in seeking a second term, he would have to “propagate” as a candidate.
“It is not a political process when we elect a president. I do not want to become a party to a political process.  I do not want to damage the name of Rashtrapati Bhavan which has been made into a people’s bhavan during my tenure,” he said.
The President interacted with members of the Board of Directors of PTI before meeting journalists.
When asked for his comments on suggestions that non-political persons should occupy the post of president, Kalam replied, “The president should be a good human being so that he or she will enrich the Rashtrapati Bhavan.”
How would he like to be remembered, Kalam was asked. “As a people’s President,” he responded.
He parried a question on what he expected his successor to bring to Rashtrapati Bhavan, saying: “I believe that any President who comes, he (after a pause) or she will bring the core competence and make Rashtrapati Bhavan enriched.”
Asked about the most difficult decision he had to take in office, the 76-year-old President referred to the Office-of-Profit Bill which he returned to Parliament.
“One bill (Office of Profit) first time I happened to return. As per the Constitution, the President can do it. I happened to do it for the first time.” The Bill then had been debated and Parliament had established guidelines on the question of office of profit, he recalled.
Another decision was the introduction of bio-fuel in the country under which the government recently allowed ten per cent mixing of environmentally clean fuel, he said, adding that cars should be modified to run on bio-fuel.
Kalam said he had seen all Presidents in the past, each one with capability in different fields. One was a philosopher, another a teacher, yet another a political great and one who had contributed to judiciary.
Asked about the equations he had with the two prime ministers he dealt with during his tenure, Kalam said, “Each prime minister has a core competence...one is decision-making process and another is expertise.
“Sometimes, one person will have decision making (capability) another (person) expertise. A combination will be fantastic.”
Kalam was asked about his experience in dealing with the political class in the last five years first as scientist and then as head of the State.
In India, he said, there is “political politics” and “developmental politics.” Political politics is about elections which is also important. Development politics is about economic development of the country.
The President said he would like to see a political party come up and say that it would achieve development in five years while another would say it would do the same in three years.
“I say political politics should be 30 per cent of the system and developmental politics 70 per cent. At present, the reverse is the situation,” he said.