BJP leader and former Union Minister Anurag Thakur created a stir at a PM Shri School event in Himachal Pradesh when he said Lord Hanuman was the first space traveller.
Speaking to students on National Space Day, Thakur asked, “Antriksh mein yatra karne wala pehla kaun tha? (Who was the first one to travel into space?).”
This remark has since elicited a range of reactions. The X users were quick to point out the error and provide a fact check: “Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel into space.”
DMK MP Kanimozhi criticised the remark, calling it “deeply troubling.” She said, “A member of parliament and former union minister asking school children who first set foot on the moon, and insisting that it was not Neil Armstrong but Hanuman, is deeply troubling.”
Others also expressed concern. One user wrote, “Instead of correcting the children, you told them Hanuman was the first space traveller with that frivolous smile. It was Yuri Gagarin. Stop playing with the innocent minds of children.”
Another said, “Science is not mythology. To mislead young minds in classrooms is an insult to knowledge, reason, and the spirit of scientific temper enshrined in our Constitution.”
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