APJ Abdul Kalm is a scientist who was supported by political parties to become the President of India.
Wikipedia :"The President is the
formal head of the execuitve,legislature and judiciary of India and is the commander-in-chief of the
Indian Armed Forces.
Although Article 53 of the Constitution of India states that the President can exercise his or her powers directly or by subordinate authority,[2] with few exceptions, all of the executive authority vested in the President are, in practice, exercised by the Government of India."
So, no APJ Abdul Kalam in my view wasn't a politician.
Another example is Manmohan Singh who was actually the Prime Minister of India, but elected via Rajya Sabha lacked political power leading to loss of control to Sonia and others in Congress and hence, I guess can be called a Statesman, Learned man, diplomat, but hardly a politician.