As India Rejoices Over Chandrayaan-3, INDIA Bloc Locks Horns With BJP Over Credit for Space Journey

India is over the Moon but the opposition’s INDIA front and BJP are engaged in a fight over the lunar landing by Chandrayaan-3.

As soon as news broke of the successful mission, Congress released a series of campaigns to show that the country’s space journey began during Jawaharlal Nehru’s era. For instance, the party released a video showing an anchor claiming that the ISRO journey began with Nehru. It showed stills with Vikram Sarabhai and used a voiceover, saying Nehru “never claimed credit nor indulged in any propaganda”.

Party leader Supriya Shrinate tweeted a long statement which included: “It was independent India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru whose scientific outlook and vision lay the foundation of Indian space research. He spoke about scientific temper way back in 1946…”

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal raised the issue of payment to scientists despite the government’s clarification on the issue and asked why the prime minister addressed the gathering post the launch.

This did not stop with the Congress. Other constituents of INDIA also attacked BJP and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of snatching credit from the scientists.

“ISRO would have delivered anyway. The prime minister didn’t do enough to laud the scientists,” the RJD complained even after PM Modi patted the scientists in his speech. NCP chief Sharad Pawar too said Nehru must get credit as the journey to Space had started during his time.

However, BJP rejected the claims, saying Congress’ obsession with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty showed it did not want to give credit to ISRO scientists. It also said the prime minister would go straight to Bengaluru from Greece to felicitate the scientists.

Government sources have displayed statistics to show that the leg-up to the space mission came primarily post 2014. According to government sources, “the amount earned after 2014 is about Rs 3,300 crore in terms of international launches”. The same sources also claimed: “The total international satellites launched by India before 2014 was 35 while post 2014, it is 389. And the budget for space has seen a jump of 123 per cent, standing at Rs 12,543 crore in 2023-2024.

As Chandrayaan-3 hovers on the Moon collecting data, back in India, the INDIA front and BJP are engaged in number crunching. The opposition parties are once again claiming credit, while accusing the BJP of undermining the scientists and making it an election issue.