Day after Chandrayaan-3 made a successful soft-landing on the lunar surface’s south pole, Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, a Hindu seer, urged the government to declare the Moon as a “Hindu Rashtra”.
The appeal from the national president of All India Hindu Mahasabha Swami came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the point on the Moon where the Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram soft-landed will be named ‘Shiv Shakti’ and the spot where the Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed will be called ‘Tiranga’.
Sharing a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, Swami Chakrapani Maharaj said the Indian government should “act quickly so that no terrorists can reach the Moon”.
“Moon should be declared as Hindu Sanatan Rashtra by Parliament, Shiv Shakti Point should be developed as its capital at the landing place of Chandrayaan-3, so that no terrorist can reach there with Jihadi mentality,” he said.
Meanwhile, a political war of words broke out between the BJP and Congress over the Chandrayaan-3’s landing point name. While Congress leader Rashid Alvi said the name is ridiculous as Modi has no right to name the lunar surface, BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla said Congress is only revealing its ‘anti-Hindu’ self.
ISRO chief on landing name controversy
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath on Sunday said there was “no need for a controversy” over the name. Speaking to the news agency ANI, the ISRO chairman said, “The explanation that the honourable prime minister gave on ‘Shiv Shakti’, he represented it as a combination of man and woman, the contribution of women in Isro and the need to create that kind of synergy in the organisation.”
“…So he narrated the meaning of the word in a manner that suits all of us. There is nothing wrong with that. He also gave the next name to ‘Tiranga’. Both are Indian-sounding names. He has a prerogative of naming it being the prime minister of the country,” he said.
