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Samajwadi Party chief and MP Akhilesh Yadav on Monday criticised Union Minister Anurag Thakur's remark that "Lord Hanuman was the first to visit space," saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) always tries to take credit for everything.
The Samajwadi Party leader also congratulated Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who recently became the first Indian to travel to the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. Speaking at a press conference in Lucknow, the SP leader said, "He has achieved a great feat. He must have worked so hard all these years and gone through rigorous training after which he has been able to achieve this success. It is a big achievement for the country, for him personally, and for his family. His visit to the space has made the country proud. The country's resources were used" The SP chief emphasised that such missions are the result of the dedication of scientists and the commitment of the astronaut, rather than any political party. Without naming Anurag Thakur directly, Yadav took a sharp dig at the ruling party. He said, "BJP tries to take credit for everything. Now they are saying our God Hanuman was the first to visit space. We always say all our deities live in the space." The controversy began after BJP MP Anurag Thakur shared a post on X in which he was seen interacting with school children on National Space Day, asking, "Who was the first person to travel to space?" When the students answered "Neil Armstrong," Thakur said, "I think Hanuman ji was the first person to travel to space." https://x.com/ianuragthakur/status/1959262559770689891 While interacting with students at Shri Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Una, Himachal Pradesh, the BJP leader argued that knowledge traditions should extend beyond what he described as "textbooks given to us by the British." He urged teachers to look towards "our veds, our textbooks and our knowledge," asserting this will allow students to see "a lot more." India's astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who returned to Earth on July 15 after completing NASA's Axiom-4 (AX-4) space mission, arrived in New Delhi on August 17. Shukla was part of NASA's Axiom-4 Space Mission, which took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US, on June 25. He returned to Earth on July 15, splashing down off the coast of California. He became the first Indian in 41 years to travel to space. (ANI)
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