- By Abhirupa Kundu
- Thu, 17 Aug 2023 12:32 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shehzad Poonawalla and his estranged brother Tehseen Poonawalla engaged in a war of words over several tweets regarding the latter's claim of the Indian government not paying Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scientists. The BJP national spokesperson refuting the claims of his brother said that for him the nation comes first and "family last".
"For me my nation is first. Family last - ALWAYS. Even if my own family spreads fake news about ISRO & INDIA - I will call them out," Shehzad wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The PIB Fact checker on Wednesday confirmed that Tehseen's claim was fake and mentioned "ISRO scientists get their monthly salary on the last day of every month".
Tehseen, a Congress flag-waiver in a YouTube podcast is heard saying: "That's my issue with the government. Three months ISRO scientists have not been paid salaries. Feel free to fact-check".
Following Shehzad's tweet, Tehseen clarified that it was engineers and people below the rank of scientists faced non-payment and said the context remains same as the "crime" does not get reduced if it was Chandrayan 3 engineers who were not paid salaries and not the scientists.
"NON PAYMENT to professionals! Imagine I say xyz killed an Indian! Now I am being being "fact checked" the person killed was not Indian. Ok cool... he was of Indian origin! Does that reduce the crime ? Similarly, it was not scientists but engineers ... does that change the context ?" Tehseen tweeted.
The Poonawalla brothers who have a strained relationship since 2017 did not halt the argument with Shehzad demanding that Tehseen should apologise to ISRO and Prime Minister Natendra Modi for his incorrect claims.
"Now, that you have accepted that it was not ISRO SCIENTISTS but allegedly some engineers WHO ARE NOT FROM ISRO - the more honourable thing to do, is to just apologise to ISRO & PM @narendramodi ji… I know you won’t. Nor will your congress Jamaat.." Shehzad tweeted.
The Poonawalla duo have claimed that they are not on talking terms but are often seen taking part in television debates together.
