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Political slugfest over credit for Chandrayaan-3 success
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal accused the ruling BJP of taking the entire credit for the mission without supporting the scientists
Hours after Chandrayaan-3 achieved a perfect touchdown on the lunar south pole, a war of wards broke out between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress over taking political credit for the moon mission.
BJP chief JP Nadda congratulated the scientists and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Under his leadership, the country is creating new feats of success, carving a unique space for itself in the field of space exploration,” he said soon after the landing on Wednesday evening.
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Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, too, congratulated the scientists on the mission and hailed Jawaharlal Nehru, saying Isro’s accomplishments were a testament to India’s first prime minister.
On Thursday, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal accused the ruling BJP of taking the entire credit for the mission without supporting the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
“PM must answer some for his hypocrisy. You (PM) were quick to come on screen and take credit after the landing, but why has your government failed so terribly in supporting the scientists and Isro?...you hogged the limelight when that moment was about the scientists’ achievements,” he posted on X, accusing the government of slashing the mission’s budget and not paying the salaries of some scientists.
Hitting back, BJP leader Nalin Kohli said that the Congress was “stuck in the past” for crediting Nehru.
“If the Congress party would like to give the credit of Chandrayaan in 2023 to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was in 1960s, I can only say this is a party which is stuck in the past and had no idea about the present and the future,” he said. Meanwhile, PIB Fact Check debunked the claim of Isro scientists not receiving their salaries. “This claim is #Fake... @isro scientists get their monthly salary on last day of every month on the last day of each month,” they posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Nehru set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962 under Vikram Sarabhai and the Rocket Launching Facility (TERLS) at Thumba. In 1969, INCOSPAR became Isro.
