Anand Mahindra minced no words in slamming BBC after the British news network questioned India for spending millions of dollars on space exploration when a large percentage of the country’s population is still living in poverty. In his retort, the chairman of Mahindra pointed out that India’s poverty is a result of British colonial rule.
He was responding to a viral video which shows a BBC anchor questioning the ethicality of India spending money on moon missions when the funds could be utilised to build toilets and provide better infrastructure to Indian citizens. The video in question actually dates back to 2019, but resurfaced online recently after the success of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission.
“India, a country that lacks a lot of infrastructure, a country that has extreme poverty. I think more than 700 million Indians don't have access to a toilet. Should they really be spending this much money on a space mission?” the BBC anchor asks in the clip which was posted on X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter.
Responding to the video, Anand Mahindra said that India needs to invest in both toilets and space exploration. India’s successful space missions give Indians the aspiration to lift them out of poverty, he said.
Mahindra also invoked the Kohinoor diamond as an example of the British colonial rulers plundering India’s wealth – which is a major reason for the country’s poverty and lack of progress in certain areas today.
“The truth is that, in large part, our poverty was a result of decades of colonial rule which systematically plundered the wealth of an entire subcontinent. Yet the most valuable possession we were robbed of was not the Kohinoor Diamond but our pride & belief in our own capabilities,” wrote Anand Mahindra.
Really?? The truth is that, in large part, our poverty was a result of decades of colonial rule which systematically plundered the wealth of an entire subcontinent. Yet the most valuable possession we were robbed of was not the Kohinoor Diamond but our pride & belief in our own… https://t.co/KQP40cklQZ— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) August 24, 2023
His powerful rejoinder has gone viral on the microblogging platform with over 3 million views.
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