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I wonder why the prime minister felt the need to announce this himself. If I remember correctly the Chinese premier did not announce their test.
by abhinai 8y ago
I wonder why the prime minister felt the need to announce this himself. If I remember correctly the Chinese premier did not announce their test.
- rishav_sharan 8y agoBecause the assembly polls didn't show bjp leading by as much as expected.
- rishav_sharan 8y agohttps://m.khaleejtimes.com/international/india/India-assembly-polls-Congress-starts-early-celebrations1-- https://m.khaleejtimes.com/international/india/India-assembl... Adding a link. Sorry about creating a new comment. Am on mobile
- bhargav 8y agoSo you think the entire exercise was carried out for BJP to pull ahead in elections? How much do you think Indian citizens care about this? Do you think it is enough to swing votes? Don't be too quick to find faults!
- sbmthakur 8y agoWell, I've heard people saying that everything from the Pulwama attack to Balakot airstrikes was orchestrated by BJP for electoral gains. So reading the grand parent wasn't surprising.
- timdiggerm 8y agoIt is definitely possible that the exercise was carried out independent of the election schedule, but Modi announcing it (instead of some lower official) is because of the elections, part of making every bit of possible patriotism count. Don't be too quick to overstate others' positions!
- shripadk 8y agoModi heads the Department of Space. He has every right to announce it whether you like it or not. As far as overstating positions go, the opposition in India was quick to jump to conspiracy theories after the Pulwama attack saying that Modi orchestrated the entire attack for political gains. This ridiculous conspiracy theory mongering has gone on to unprecedented levels this election. After failing at making a dent for the past 1 year by parroting Rafale lies, the opposition is now trying to find a new issue to latch onto. It can't be that you keep throwing darts until one of them sticks! That is not how a responsible opposition should behave!
- timdiggerm 8y agoI'm not Indian (or from any nearby country!). I do not care if BJP wins the next election or whatever is going on. I am not part of the opposition. Your passion is so overwrought that you are seeing opposition where it isn't.
- MiroF 8y agoOh, the announcement almost certainly was.
- thevardanian 8y agoSo... Don't announce scientific achievements by your national space agency during an election? Talk about skewed perspectives.
- MiroF 8y agoWait, now I'm confused... is it a military national security issue or a scientific achievement? China managed to not have Xi Jinping announce when they did it.
- sbmthakur 8y ago> China managed to not have Xi Jinping announce when they did it. Which test you're talking about? Xi wasn't leading China back in 2007. And thanks to the ignorance of their top brass, the Chinese received considerable negative reaction after the test.[1] 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_missile_test https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_...
- MiroF 8y ago> Xi wasn't leading China back in 2007. You're right - I was confusing it with the more recent non-destructive tests that were also not explicitly announced. And I don't think they received negative reaction because they didn't announce. It's no secret that the West is not full of fans of China
- thevardanian 8y agoYah man. We need to celebrate space agencies/scientists even less.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- rishav_sharan 8y agoNot the entire exercise. But the publishing of the fact imo is to grt better traction for the election. Between such announcements and the modi biopic movie during the elections, i am betting that modi marketing momentum is not going to stop.
- 131012 8y agoIt seems that every announcements are made by Modi, never by his ministers.
- sbmthakur 8y agoNot really. The announcement of Balakot airstrikes was made by MEA officials.
- no1name 8y agoBecause Indian computer nerds like you with IQ<30 have low attention span and they would not know about it.
- Throwawayzoink 8y agoSo that the amazing scientists get appropriate public recognition.
- sbmthakur 8y agoMost likely because the Department of Space comes under the Prime Minister.[1] And it was very important to assure the international community that we are not going to use it for attacking another country. PM's direct involvement helps this very much. The Chinese test got a significant negative reaction because of the ignorance from the top leadership. 1. https://www.isro.gov.in/about-isro/organisation-structure https://www.isro.gov.in/about-isro/organisation-structure
- lagolinguini 8y agoI'm pretty sure it's because the 2019 General Election is coming up. This prime minister is a right wing populist. After recent tensions between India and Pakistan, he's come out on the top over the opposition. This will probably appeal to his base even more. He also has a tendency of claiming the achievements of previous governments and/or independent institutions as his own, while blaming all his government's failures on the previous governments. He even blames some of that shit on fucking Nehru, who's been dead for more than 50 years.
- ra7 8y agoPretty funny you should mention Nehru. Tweets from official Congress party account credits today’s event to Nehru. Both sides resort to the same kind of tactics.
- lagolinguini 8y agoYeah, both main parties are stuck in the past. The BJP is horrible for obvious reasons, and there is no good opposition party. The upcoming election is going to be a shitshow.
- kamaal 8y agoJawaharlal Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad pretty much built entirety of India's Human resources development and Industrial infrastructure with what was one of the poorest countries at the time. Historic opportunity meets historic people. Jawaharlal Nehru is one of the best things to happen to India both politically and economically. 5 year plans effectively, though taken from the communist governments of USSR, were one of the greatest political innovations of the age. Focus on big things, 5 years at a time and get it done. Agriculture, industrialization, educational infrastructure, space programs, domestic industrial infrastructure, highways, green revolution, white revolution etc. If you are sitting and working in place like Bangalore, that comes from Industrial infrastructure and its inertial effects on educational institutions around Bangalore. Needless to say garden variety international foreign affairs policies. Which include but do not end at NAM. Which prevented India from becoming a thugs for hire nation for cold war super powers. This is above and beyond his pivotal role in India's independence movement. Dude gets credit because he got work done.
- unmole 8y agoElections are coming.
- nindalf 8y agoModi takes the credit for anything achieved by the government or government backed entities like the space organisation. He singlehandedly opened bank accounts (that are empty), surgically struck Pakistan (with his bare hands), got us to space, developed missiles, brought the black money back, won the cricket world cup, created jobs, built the mandir (that's built, right?) and a million other achievements. What's curious is that he seems to go missing when there's a fuck up. Who was responsible for demonetization? No idea, blame anyone you want but don't blame him!
- eklavya 8y agoSure, why not? Take credit for whatever you have done, it's naive to think that politicians will not showcase their work. Tell me what do you write in your resume? Finding personal faults with any public person is pointless (as in having an effect on you). What matters is whether the results are good/bad.
- nindalf 8y agoI have 2 issues with what Modi does * His list of achievements is absurd and factually incorrect, and he rarely gives credit to others who contributed. * He hates criticism and tries to muzzle it. A politician should not interfere with the press but he does so. He has gotten journalists fired because they criticised him.
- kumarharsh 8y agoHe's always reflected the praise towards the scientific community as far as I can see: Just read the tweets on his profile... A sample: https://mobile.twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1110862796437114880 https://mobile.twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1110862796437... It's like... Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. If you're going to blindly criticise anyone without considering things out of your bubble, that's your prerogative.
- azemda 8y agoHistorian Guha put it nicely, "Modi doesn't share credit, not even with Lord Ram".
- tpc3 8y agohttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/modi-space-weapon-announcement-struggles-for-lift-off https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/modi-space-wea... "veteran broadcaster Shekhar Gupta tweeted that the space missile had destroyed two targets: a satellite, and “what remained of the stature [and] reputation of Election Commission of India”"
- sbmthakur 8y agoCode of conduct doesn't apply to national security issues. Not sure what Mr. Gupta is implying here.
- MiroF 8y ago> Code of conduct doesn't apply to national security issues You realize that nobody is fooled right? Everyone except for Modi's supporters sees through this
- sbmthakur 8y agoThat's not what I am doing here. You can read it yourself: https://m.economictimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/issues-of-national-security-do-not-fall-under-poll-code-ambit-ec-sources/articleshow/68595394.cms https://m.economictimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/i... I'm not about aware about any change in the Code of Conduct since the EC made that statement. Correct me if I am wrong.
- MiroF 8y agoShooting down your own satellite isn't an "issue of national security." And the question isn't whether it is permissible, but rather was it an obvious opportunistic move? The answer to the latter is yes to pretty much all of the outside observers.
- sbmthakur 8y agoThey shot the satellite with a "missile". And it was a demonstration of what we would do when a spy satellite hovers above us during "wartime". The PM in his address clearly said that this successful test makes "India" more "secure". Considering all this, it pretty much qualifies to be a national security issue to me. > And the question isn't whether it is permissible, but rather was it an obvious opportunistic move? I don't know.
- dugluak 8y agoBeing the 4th nation to do this is tremendous achievement, being not acknowledged by PM would have been a bigger news.
- garmaine 8y agoThese tests ought to be banned by international agreements. This is not an achievement for anybody. It is a travesty.
- z3phyr 8y agoThen everybody will do it secretly. It's only a travesty when someone starts it; other people have the right to respond to parity with their own.
- bilbo0s 8y agoWait... what? So the first, the US, was a travesty, but everyone else is legitimate self-defense?
- garmaine 8y agoThere's no way to secretly test these weapons. To be clear, I'm not objecting to the weapons existence. I'm objecting to the tests, which are potentially worse than above-ground nuclear testing. The kessler syndrome, if realized, would permanently destroy our ability to deploy, access, and use space resources.
- dugluak 8y agoHow many tests did US conduct since 1950s?
- garmaine 8y agoAnti-satellite weapon tests? Only twice. Once in 1985, which was internationally condemned and widely considered a mistake, and once operationally in 2008 to destroy a failed satellite about to re-enter with a full tank of toxic fuel (the debris from this immediately entered the atmosphere).
- kumarharsh 8y agoBecause that's the norm in India. Even the then PM, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had announced the successful test of Nuclear Bomb in 1998: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II And point to be noted is that this one was just after the election. So it seems like elections have not been a major factor in these kinds of announcement in India.
- adictator 8y agoBecause this project was directly under the PM. Also to note, India was already ASAT capable about a decade back, but the political will (INC then) was simply not there to test it out & make a claim as the first among equals.