Jharkhand edu minister Neera Yadav 'pays respect' to former Prez APJ Abdul Kalam

Ranchi: A Jharkhand minister found herself at the receiving end of jokes after being seen paying tribute to a garlanded photo of former President APJ Abdul Kalam in images that surfaced on social media.

The pictures were reportedly taken at a school function where Neera Yadav, the state's Human Resource Development minister, was chief guest. The pictures were published in a newspaper.

People on social networking sites pulled no punches as they criticised the minister for seemingly paying tributes to Dr Kalam, who is alive and well.

According to media reports, BJP MLA Manish Jaiswal, school teacher Umesh Prasad and others were also present there.

Ms Yadav denies that she had paid posthumous tributes to the former President and missile scientist. The garland was placed by someone else and she only put the tilak, the minister was quoted as saying.

Facing flak over the act, Yadav said that in such schools, photos of great leaders are also garlanded to honour them and is a way to pay respect. She also added that Kalam is a great scientist and there is nothing objectionable in garlanding the picture of a leader.