Congress Posts Images of Nehru and Indira with Indian Space Program Doyens to Show Continuity

To demonstrate the continuity in the nation’s advancement in the field, the Congress on Thursday posted various images of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi with prominent members of India’s space program, including Vikram Sarabhai.

The Congress said that Chandrayaan-3’s landing on the moon was a communal success of all Indians and that ISRO’s accomplishment reflected a continuing tale and was absolutely amazing.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted a number of these images on his social media accounts on Thursday, including one in which Sarabhai is seen explaining to Nehru and another in which space scientist E V Chitnis is doing the same.

The two pictures were shot on February 10, 1962, at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) Campus in Ahmedabad, barely a week before INCOSPAR (Indian National Committee for Space Research) was formally announced, according to Ramesh. INCOSPAR was led by Sarabhai at the time.

He also shared a 1980 image of Indira Gandhi, who was prime minister at the time, with A P J Abdul Kalam, a scientist, and Satish Dhawan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

However, the BJP attacked the Congress, saying that it is creating a “myth around Nehru’s non-existent scientific temper”.

The Congress tweeted a message on its official X account asking people whether they were aware that Nehru launched INCOSPAR, which is increasing India’s sense of pride via ISRO.

In another article, the party claimed that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru “laid the first brick for India’s space program” with INCOSPAR in 1962.

Ramesh said earlier in the day that the parliamentary panel visited the PRL on December 30, 2019, and he is also the chairman of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests, and Climate Change.

“PRL founded by Vikram Sarabhai in November 1947, has made invaluable contributions to our space programme,” he said in his article on X.

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota hosted the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests, and Climate Change on December 27, 2019. Recalling that special trip and the picture with the bust of our space program’s co-architect and real systems builder,” Ramesh stated.

Amit Malviya, the chairman of the BJP’s IT division, said in a post that after 2014, Prime Minister Modi’s administration accelerated moon missions, provided funding for Chandrayaan-2, and stationed Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar South Pole.

“BJP Prime Ministers were involved in the planning of every Moon mission that India has conducted. All these years, Congress has done nothing except avoid the Gandhis.They encourage the worst type of mediocrity, including fabricating stories about Nehru’s fictitious scientific temperament, he claimed.

Following the Chandrayaan-3 landing, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge stated on Wednesday that an ecstatic nation with 140 crore aspirations witnessed yet another accomplishment in its six-decade-long space program and that the ISRO is a source of particular pride for all Indians.

Ramesh said that the accomplishment of ISRO is very outstanding and symbolizes a long line of accomplishments.