In a groundbreaking achievement, India has solidified its place in space history by successfully landing on the lunar South Pole. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his heartfelt congratulations to Indian scientists and citizens, heralding the event as an unforgettable day for the nation. The culmination of the mission, however, lay in the final moments of landing, as ISRO’s Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) took over, guiding Vikram LM to a gentle touchdown on the lunar surface.
As the nation reveled in the triumph of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3, a sour note emerged from the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party, drawing criticism for attempting to attribute the success to their political legacy. Rajiv Gandhi, the DMK Student Wing President, and Spokesperson, took to Twitter to assert that the accomplishments of Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2, and Chandrayaan-3, along with the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyan), owed their success to Tamil Nadu’s two-language policy championed by the late DMK leader, Annadurai.
“Chandrayaan 1 – Mylaswamy Annadurai! Chandrayaan 2 – Vanitha Muthiya! Chandrayaan 3 – Veeramuthuvel! Mangalyan – Subbiah Arunan! All of them are from Tamil Nadu! More importantly than this, all of them have studied in the Tamil Nadu State Curriculum which has the two-language policy of Annadurai,” Rajiv Gandhi’s tweet read.
சந்திராயன் 1 – மயில்சாமி அண்ணாதுரை !
சந்திராயன் 2 – வனிதா முத்தையா !
சந்திராயன் 3 – வீரமுத்துவேல் !
மங்கள்யான் – சுப்பையா அருணன் !இவர்கள் அனைவரும் தமிழ்நாட்டை சேர்ந்தவர்கள்!
இதைவிட முதன்மையானது
இவர்கள் அனைவரும் பேரறிஞர் அண்ணாவின் இருமொழி கொள்கை வழி தமிழ்நாடு மாநில…— R.Rajiv Gandhi (@rajiv_dmk) August 23, 2023
However, this attempt to link the achievements of these renowned scientists to the DMK’s language policy was swiftly debunked. Mylswamy Annadurai studied at PSG Tech, Coimbatore, which was established in 1951, while Muthayya Vanitha graduated from the College of Engineering, Guindy, founded in 1794. Veeramuthuvel and K Sivan pursued their education at IIT Madras and IISc Bangalore, both established in 1959 and 1909, respectively. Notably, none of these institutions have any affiliation with the DMK government, with most being central government institutes.
In response, SG Suryah, BJP State Secretary, rebuked Rajiv Gandhi for promoting a “separatist agenda,” cautioning that today’s Tamil Nadu youth are discerning and not swayed by the tactics that once worked in the 1960s. The attempt to politicize the scientists’ achievements and ascribe them to a particular political movement was met with criticism from various quarters.
None of these 4 studied in any College started in any of the #DMK Govts. So #DMK’s silly efforts to paste Dravidian Stickers on these Indian Scientist achievers will be slippered badly even by them. Mind your separatist agenda, the youth of #TamilNadu are not the same of 1960s &… https://t.co/kVVxGOxZFt
— Dr.SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) August 23, 2023
Moreover, netizens were quick to highlight an older interview with Veeramuthuvel, the Project Director of Chandrayaan-3, in which he expressed his identity as an Indian before anything else. “There is nothing like Tamilian here. ISRO is pan India. I am proud of it. People from different corners of India work for ISRO. Fortunately for this mission, I am the Project Director. In the next mission, somebody else from India will be the Project Director. It is more of a team work than individual contribution,” he emphasized.
The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 stands as a testament to India’s technological prowess and unity. The misguided attempts by certain political factions to appropriate the success for their own gain only serve to undermine the collaborative efforts of countless individuals who contributed to the mission’s triumph.
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