Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said that the landing point of India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 should have been named Vikram Sarabhai or Jawaharlal Nehru.
This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (August 26) announced the naming of the touchdown point of Chandrayaan-3 as ‘Shivashakti’ and that of Chandrayaan-2, crash-landed on Moon in 2019, as ‘Tiranga Point’.
“What else can BJP do? I think the place where Chandrayaan unfurled the tricolor should be named after Vikram Sarabhai, this has been possible only because of the great work of Sarabhai and Pandit Nehru ji,” Raut said.
He said that it is not right to bring Hindutva everywhere.
“Nehru ji has a big contribution, but you forget the scientists and everywhere you bring Hindutva. We also believe in Hindutva, but some things are related to science, where it is not right to bring Hindutva, this has been said by Veer Savarkar only,” the UBT leader said.
Vikram Sarabhai, a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan (posthumously), was the founder of ISRO and is considered as the Father of the Indian space program.
Notably, the point of crash landing of Moon Impactor probe of Chandrayaan-1, which took place on November 14, 2008, was named as ‘Jawahar Sthal’ or Jawahar Point.
A research institute specialising in solid and liquid propellants for rockets located in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram is named after Sarabhai in his memory - Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
PM Modi addresses scientists
PM Modi on Saturday arrived in India back from his two-nation visit. He landed in Bengaluru and headed straight to ISRO to meet the ISRO scientists.
He congratulated them for the huge success while also patting the back of Somanath. The Prime Minister addressed the scientists whom he saluted while also getting emotional about the same.
In a slew of announcements which brought a loud cheer from the scientists, he said that the spot where Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the Moon will be named as ‘Shivashakti Point’ and where Chandrayaan-2 crash-on the Moon's surface in 2019 will be known as ‘Tiranga Point’.
Also, August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as National Space Day', PM Modi said.
