Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced that India had joined an elite club of space powers through “Mission Shakti”. India’s anti-satellite weapon A-SAT successfully destroyed a satellite on a low earth orbit, joining a group of three countries – the US, Russia and China – with such capability.
“India has entered its name as an elite space power. It is the fourth country to achieve this feat after the US, Russia and China. The ‘Mission Shakti’ operation was a difficult target to achieve, which was completed successfully within three minutes of the launch,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in an address to the nation.
Shortly after PM Modi’s televised address announcing the success of “Mission Shakti”, some social media user saw it as a desperate effort by Modi to take credits. PM Modi was also accused by the opposition of taking credits of the Mission.
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter and said, “Modi likes to take the credit for everything. Credit to those who really deserve it, our scientists and researchers.”
“Today’s announcement is yet another limitless drama and publicity mongering by Modi desperately trying to reap political benefits at the time of the election. This is a gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct,” she said.
The A-SAT missile was launched at approximately 11:16 AM on Tuesday from Odisha’s Balasore and within three minutes of launch, it successfully hit the intended target, a de-commissioned Indian satellite, in a “Low-Earth Orbit” at roughly 300 km from the Earth’s surface.