Daijiworld Media Network - Madurai

Madurai, Sep 15: DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi on Saturday criticised BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s recent claim that Hanuman was the first to travel to space, saying such leaders “were not in Tamil Nadu.”

Speaking at an event in Madurai, she remarked, “If you ask children who first went to the moon, they will say Neil Armstrong. Some northern leaders, however, might claim the grandmother from our folk tales or even Hanuman first set foot on the moon. Thankfully, such people are not leaders in Tamil Nadu.”

Thakur had made the controversial comment last month on National Space Day while interacting with school children, urging teachers to go beyond “textbooks given to us by the British” and stating, “I think Hanuman ji was the first person to travel to space… our Vedas, our textbooks and our knowledge.”

Kanimozhi had earlier criticised the remark, saying equating mythology with science misleads young minds, undermines knowledge and reason, and violates the constitutional value of scientific temper. She added in a post on X, “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.”