‘Salute passengers of Chandrayaan-3’: Rajasthan minister’s gaffe is viral

Rajasthan sports minister Ashok Chandna sparked a row with his Chandrayaan-3 remarks (Image credit: @AshokChandnaINC/Twitter)

A Rajasthan minister sparked a row on Wednesday after congratulating the ‘passengers’ of India’s moon mission. Rajasthan sports minister Ashok Chandna made the bizarre remark hours before the Chandrayaan-3 lander module touched down on the lunar surface on August 23.

"Agar safe landing hui, to jo yatri gaye hain hamare unko salaam karta hu (If we are successful and make a safe landing, I salute the passengers),” he told reporters at an event in Rajasthan shortly before India made history as the first nation to successfully execute a soft landing near the moon’s south pole.

“Our country has taken a step further in science and space research. I congratulate the countrymen for this,” Ashok Chandna added.

While the Rajasthan sports minister’s remarks were amusing to some, many slammed his ‘ignorance’. He has become the target of social media trolling after a video of his remarks went viral.

Chandrayaan-3 was an unmanned mission to land safely on the far side of the moon. With its success, India entered an elite club of three other nations -- United States, Russia and China -- that have a rover on the lunar surface. However, the United States is the only country to have successfully conducted crewed missions to the earth’s only natural satellite.

Special prayers were held in different parts of the country for the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission. During the final minutes of the landing, people remained glued to their screens to watch the scene unfolding at ISRO's mission control room.