- BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed ancient India had flying machines before the Wright brothers
- Mr Chouhan referenced the Pushpaka Vimana from Hindu epics as evidence of ancient advanced technology
- Anurag Thakur stated Lord Hanuman might have been the first space traveller, not Neil Armstrong
Days after BJP leader Anurag Thakur told school students that Lord Hanuman might have been the first space traveller, his senior party colleague Shivraj Singh Chouhan has claimed that India had flying machines long before the Wright brothers invented the aeroplane.
Speaking at the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal, Mr Chouhan referred to the 'Pushpaka Vimana' described in Hindu epics, suggesting that advanced technology existed in ancient India.
"We had the Pushpak Viman long before the Wright brothers invented the aeroplane. Drones and missiles that we have today were already with us for thousands of years. We have read all this in the Mahabharata. Our country's science and technology were already developed thousands of years ago," Mr Chouhan claimed.
Standard history texts attribute the world's first powered flight to American inventors Orville and Wilbur Wright, who in 1903 successfully flew a motorised aircraft at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. The achievement marked the beginning of modern aviation.
Mr Chouhan's comments place him among a number of Indian political leaders who have in recent years claimed ancient scriptures as evidence of advanced knowledge in science and technology. During his tenure as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr Chouhan had previously spoken of the Pushpaka Vimana as proof of aviation existing in India long before Western technological advances.
The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister's comments come shortly after those of senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Anurag Thakur, who earlier this week told students that Lord Hanuman could be considered the first space traveller.
Addressing a gathering at a school in Himachal Pradesh, on National Space Day, Mr Thakur posed a question to students: "Antriksh main yatra karne wala pehla kaun tha? (Who was the first one to travel into space?)"
When some students answered "Neil Armstrong," Mr Thakur responded, "Mujhe toh lagta hai Hanuman ji the (I think it was Lord Hanuman)."
The first human to travel into outer space was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. On 12 April 1961, aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft, Mr Gagarin completed an orbit of the Earth, reaching an altitude of 301 kilometres. The mission lasted nearly 90 minutes before he landed safely the same day.
Neil Armstrong, whom the students mentioned, is recorded as the first human to set foot on the Moon during NASA's Apollo 11 mission on 20 July 1969.
Mr Thakur's comments, which were circulated on social media after video clips.
DMK MP Kanimozhi, who condemned the statement as "deeply troubling, wrote in a post on X: "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. 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. India's future lies in nurturing curiosity, not confusing fact with fable."
