Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a mega roadshow in Bengaluru on Saturday, greeting people along the way as he made his way to ISRO. He is meeting ISRO scientists and officials to personally congratulate them for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3's lander and deployment of the Pragyan rover on the lunar surface. PM Modi will visit the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru at around 7:15 AM. He reached Bengaluru immediately after returning from his visit to South Africa and Greece.
"Prime Minister will meet and interact with ISRO scientists involved in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. He will also be briefed about the findings and progress in the Chandrayaan-3 Mission," a PMO statement read. After landing at the HAL airport, PM Modi said: "When our scientists give such a present to the nation, the visuals I can see here in Bengaluru are similar to what I saw in Greece."
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"Not just Indians, people across the globe who believe in science and can see the future are filled with joy today. I decided that on my return to India I will go to Bengaluru and pay tribute to the scientists behind the Chandrayaan-3 success," he said.
"As I did not know when I would reach Bengaluru, I requested CM, DCM and Governor not to take trouble so early [to receive me at the airport]," PM Modi said.
"PM Narendra Modi is coming on August 26. We will be receiving him in big numbers with more than 6,000 people at HAL airport. There, he might address the people of Bengaluru. Our (BJP) national leader Santosh ji (General Sec B L Santosh) just spoke to me regarding organising a mega roadshow in Peenya, I have spoken to Dasarahalli MLA Muniraju about this," , senior BJP leader and former Minister R Ashoka said on Thursday, as per news agency PTI.
Ashoka told the media that PM Modi has given an opportunity to the people of Bengaluru to share their joy with him.
There was huge a gathering of people to welcome the Prime Minister at the airport while the plan was to organise a roadshow of about 1 km near Peenya.
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Chandrayaan-3 Success
On Wednesday, PM Modi congratulated ISRO Chairman S Somanath upon the successful soft-landing of the Chandrayaan-3 and said that he would soon visit Bengaluru to greet the entire team in person. He spoke with the ISRO chief in a phone conversation from Johannesburg, where he was attending the BRICS summit.
While in Johannesburg, he virtually witnessed the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface and also delivered a speech lauding ISRO scientists.
India scripted history as the ambitious Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM) successfully landed on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat and the first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth's only natural satellite.
The LM comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon.