Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated all Indians and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the research and development arm of Defence Ministry for becoming the fourth nation to have attained anti-satellite (A-SAT) missile capability. India has now successfully entered the list of nations after the US, China and Russia by shooting down a low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite.
As soon as the much-awaited announcement of the day was made by our PM, the ubiquitous media and social media were flooded with their respective verdicts. The big announcement was also followed by warm greetings and felicitations to DRDO and ISRO for their collaborative success. Amid all this, a question worth million-dollars is doing rounds, “whether PM should have made this big announcement by himself or was it the job of either DRDO or the defence ministry”?
Going by the records, DRDO is headed by the scientific adviser to defence minister, one of the significant ministries from the point of view of national security and interest. Therefore, it won’t be unfair to ask why couldn’t the defence minister take the lead here?
Apparently, there is nothing wrong in our Prime Minister, ‘primus inter pares’ (first among equals) making historic announcements in space science. But it does erode the purpose and sanctity of elections in the world’s largest democracy, especially when the model code of conduct for 2019 Lok Sabha elections is already in place.
The MCC is a set of general guidelines, highlighting the do’s and don’ts for political parties and candidates starting from the date of announcement of the elections till the completion of the electoral process.
As the keystone of the cabinet arch, Prime Minister could have easily refrained from taking an electoral mileage here and the announcement could have been made through a Press Conference by some defence official or national spokesperson.
Mission Shakti is a historic milestone achieved by our scientists working day in and day out. Hadn’t it been fair to let them make the big announcement about their achievements themselves?