Lord Hanuman first space traveller: Anurag Thakur seen telling students in viral clip

Una: Senior BJP leader Anurag Thakur has told students at a school event in Himachal Pradesh that Lord Hanuman might have been the first space traveller and urged students to value the country's millennia-old traditions, knowledge and culture.

The former Union Minister made these remarks while addressing a National Space Day event at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Pekhubela in Una district.

In the video clip of his interaction with the students, shared on X, Thakur can be seen asking the students, "Antriksh main yatra karne wala pehla kaun tha? (Who was the first one to travel into space?)"

Some students reply, "Neil Armstrong."

To this, the five-time Hamirpur MP replied, “Mujhe toh lagta hai Hanuman ji the (I think it was Lord Hanuman)."

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961, became the first person to travel into space. Aboard Vostok 1 spacecraft, he reached an altitude of 301 km and orbited Earth for nearly 90 minutes before landing back on the same day.

The video clip drew mixed reactions on social media. However, DMK MP Kanimozhi condemned the statement, calling it "deeply troubling".

“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,” she wrote on X.

She continued, “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,” she added.