The mission would see the lander and rover modules of the spacecraft make a soft-landing on the moon’s surface 48 days from now, on September 7. (File)Hours after India successfully placed Chandrayaan 2, headed to the Moon, in Earth’s orbit, both the BJP and the Congress entered into a verbal spat claiming the credit for the historic achievement. Sharply reacting to the Congress’ claim that it was India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Naher who sanctioned funds for the space agency, BJP said that the grand old party was politicising the event through its “demeaning” remarks.
“This is a good time to remember the visionary move of India’s first PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to fund space research through INCOSPAR in1962 which later became ISRO. And also Dr Manmohan Singh for sanctioning the Chandrayan-2 project in 2008,” the Congress tweeted.
BJP hit back accusing the Congress of drawing the issue into the political arena, as party spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “This is really demeaning.. It’s a proud moment for every Indian. Shouldn’t have been drawn into the political arena.” “By the way when there is no future leadership in view there’s a tendency to fall back on the past to stay relevant…sadly this is what has happened to the Congress,” he added.
Following the sharp exchange, the Congress was heavily trolled on the microblogging website as people accused it of jumping to take credit for “almost everything”. ‘Nehru’ became one of the top trending words used by netizens. “This is a good time to remember the condition of ISRO vs condition of Gandhi family…” read a tweet.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission lifted off from the Sriharikota launch range at its appointed time of 2.43 pm. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday described the occasion as a “special moment that will be etched in the annals of history.”
The mission would see the lander and rover modules of the spacecraft make a soft-landing on the moon’s surface 48 days from now, on September 7.
