Congress party's star campaigner has attributed the successful test to India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru while saying that Nehru might not have taken the decision to display this capability, but laid the foundations of the organisation.
New Delhi: After the successful testing of the anti-satellite missile (ASAT), India has become the fourth country in the world with the capacity to engage in space warfare. Following this success, questions were raised about the time of the testing and the matter is being politicised.
Congress party's star campaigner has attributed the successful test to India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. It has been said that Jawaharlal Nehru might not have taken the decision to display this capability, but laid the foundations of the organisation that after 72 years of freedom has allowed India to reach the position it has attained now.
At an international level, the three other countries with successful ASAT programmes -- America, Russia and China- are surprised by India. Russia has a strictly diplomatic relationship with India, but even the US did not know about the ASAT test and its subsequent success. During the UPA's first term in 2007, China had tested its anti-satellite missile and was successful. China has also not clearly responded to India's test.
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Pakistan, India's neighbour and an infamous terrorism hub, has become disturbed by India's achievement. India is now looking at those countries who hold the same capacity from several decades.
There was no official response from America even several hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official announcement on Wednesday. US Executive defence minister Patrick Shanahan has issued a warning to countries around the world saying that no other country has survived the anti-satellite missile test in space like India has. The US has also warned the world that a test like this is likely to bring deadly debris into space.
Speaking on the Indian trial, the US has said that it is still engaged in understanding the matter. The USA first conducted the test in 1959 to achieve this capability. This was during the peak of the Cold war which lasted for decades after World War II, between the US and Russia.
During the Cold war. US and Russia were both in a race to gather arms and to strengthen their respective missile systems. One year after the US successful trial, Russia successfully achieved this feat in 1960.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) deserves credit for this great achievement.
Congress is of the opinion that credit must be given where it is due and it must go to Jawaharlal Nehru for establishing the DRDO. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the current Congress campaigner for former Prime Minister Nehru's generation, gave the first reaction on this test. She said that the work of building the country from Sui to Missile Shakti was done during the Congress party's tenure.
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