• Source:JND
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Chandrayaan-3: As the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) engaged in a credit war over the advancements in the country’s space technology during their respective tenures, after Chandrayaan-3’s successful soft landing on the lunar surface, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday said that the credit must be given to whoever established the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Meghwal also emphasised that Chandrayaan was former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s thought. "Credit must be given to whoever established ISRO, it was work done for the country. But Chandrayaan was former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's thought…,” he said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

The Law minister said that when Vajpayee was the prime minister in 1999, the government approved the lunar mission. Meghwal asserted that the first scientific Chandrayaan mission was named ‘Somayaan’ and it was changed after Vajpayee urged the scientists to rename it to ‘Chandrayaan’.

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Reportedly, the former prime minister said that the mission should be called Chandrayaan as it would be more successful and would make many exploratory journeys to the Moon.

“The late prime minister had urged scientists to proceed with their plan to study the Moon. Moreover, he also changed the mission's name from 'Somayaan' to ‘Chandrayaan’. Shouldn't Vajpayee ji get the due credit?” the minister added.

Earlier, the Congress claimed that it was former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who laid the foundation stone of space science in the country.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, the grand old party mentioned that Chandrayaan-3’s success is due to the early efforts of Jawaharlal Nehru as his scientific vision laid the foundation of Indian space research.

India on Wednesday scripted history as Chandrayaan-3, ISRO’s third lunar mission, landed successfully on the Moon’s south pole following a journey of 41 days.

After this success, India became the first country to land on the lunar south pole and only the fourth country after the US, Russia, and China to land on the moon.