Mamata Banerjee said Indira Gandhi asked ‘Rakesh Roshan’ how India looked from space. The clip went viral after Chandrayaan 3’s successful landing.
West Bengal chief minister and a key opposition leader Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said when ‘Rakesh Roshan reached the moon’, Indira Gandhi asked him how India looked from there. Banerjee said this at an event after Isro’s Chandrayaan 3 successfully soft landed on the south pole of the moon on Wednesday. The clip went viral as Mamata Banerjee confused astronaut Rakesh Sharma with Bollywood personality Rakesh Roshan, father of Hrithik Roshan. Also, Rakesh Sharma did not go to the moon. His conversation with Indira Gandhi was from space. “Sare jahan see accha,” Rakesh Sharma said replying to Indira Gandhi’s question, “Upar se Bharat kaisa dikhta hai aapko (How does India look like from space?).”
“I remember when they reached the moon, Indira Gandhi asked Rakesh Roshan how India looked from there, for space,” Mamata Banerjee said. The clip went viral adding to the list of public displays of ignorance by political leaders on the question of India’s prestigious and successful moon mission. For example, Rajasthan sports minister Ashok Chandna congratulated the ‘passengers’ who were on Chandrayaan 3 after its successful soft landing. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was asked on Chandrayaan 3 before the soft landing. He apparently did not understand the question and asked the minister who was with him.