The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scripted history yesterday by successfully launching Chandrayaan-2, India’s second moon mission with a plan to land the rover on September 7 on the moon’s unexplored South Pole. The moon mission lifted off from its launch pad at Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 2:43 pm on Monday on board a giant heavy-lift rocket. It is being seen as a giant leap in India’s ambitious, low-cost space program. As per a News18 report, this is the most complex and prestigious mission ever undertaken by the ISRO. Once India successfully completes the mission, India will become only the fourth country after the USA, Russia, and China to make a soft landing on the moon.
While the entire world is lauding India on this immense accomplishment, there are certain individuals who are just mum on the achievement- Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. The Congress leaders were expected to deliver a few congratulatory words for ISRO and its scientists, but alas, the citizens are disappointed.
All the national leaders have congratulated ISRO on the mission, including PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, CM Devendra Fadnavis and MP Smriti Irani, but the main opposition to the government, former president of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi and leader Priyanka Gandhi; are strangely quiet.
Special moments that will be etched in the annals of our glorious history!
The launch of #Chandrayaan2 illustrates the prowess of our scientists and the determination of 130 crore Indians to scale new frontiers of science.
Every Indian is immensely proud today! pic.twitter.com/v1ETFneij0
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 22, 2019
Extremely proud moment & a very special day for India !
Congratulations to #TeamISRO for successful launch of #Chandrayaan2 !
India is very proud…!
Many congratulations to all our scientists for this great achievement ! pic.twitter.com/202LYDeDmu
— Devendra Fadnavis (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 22, 2019
I congratulate our scientists at @isro for the successful launch of #Chandrayaan2 and setting yet another benchmark in the field of space technology. A grateful nation is proud of them.
I also thank PM Modi ji for encouraging our institutions for setting new standards everytime. pic.twitter.com/k26szPwhIE
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) July 22, 2019
Congratulations to @isro on the successful launch of Chandrayaan 2 – India’s first rover-based space mission & world’s first expedition to reach the Moon’s south polar region. With #Chandrayaan2, India’s tryst with space gets better & stronger – gratitude to all our scientists!
— Smriti Z Irani (Modi Ka Parivar) (@smritiirani) July 22, 2019
Even international organizations, including NASA has congratulated India.
Congrats to @ISRO on the launch of Chandrayaan 2, a mission to study the Moon. We're proud to support your mission comms using our Deep Space Network and look forward to what you learn about the lunar South pole where we will send astronauts on our #Artemis mission in a few years pic.twitter.com/dOcWBX3kOE
— NASA (@NASA) July 22, 2019
India’s successful launch was reported even by the international media. BBC News tweeted about the launch from its official handle along with a short clip of the launch. The New York Times also carried a major story about the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2 and described the launch as “a huge leap forward for India’s ambitious space program. The Washington Post also published a story about the launch. As per a Times Now report, the Russian media has also hailed the successful launch of India’s second moon mission. Further embarrassing the brother-sister duo, even the Pakistani media outlets like Dawn have reported about the launch of Chandrayaan-2.
In the past, during the testing of the Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Missile, also known as Mission Shakti, Rahul Gandhi had been forced to utter a few congratulatory words for political reasons as the achievement was ahead of the Lok Sabha election. At that time as well, most of the tweet space was spent on a snarky remark to the PM, making people question the intent behind the tweet. He had tweeted, “Well done DRDO, extremely proud of your work. I would also like to wish the PM a very happy World Theatre Day.”
Well done DRDO, extremely proud of your work.
I would also like to wish the PM a very happy World Theatre Day.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 27, 2019
Priyanka Gandhi too had spoken a few words on the achievement, only to remind the citizens that the DRDO was founded by Jawaharlal Nehru. She stated, “I am very very proud of DRDO, which is one of India’s great institutions founded by Jawaharlal Nehru.”
As in clearly evident, in the past, the brother-sister duo has only spoken about scientific achievements where there is an ulterior political motive involved, whether to curse PM Modi or laud Jawaharlal Nehru. However, this time around, since the elections aren’t looming over their heads, the Congress leaders have no reason to downgrade the current government. This essentially means that they have no motivation to congratulate the scientists for their tremendous work.
