Leaders of Hindu Organisations filed a police complaint against actor Prakash Raj in Karnataka on Tuesday over his tweet on the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The complaint, seeking action, was filed at the Banahatti police station of Bagalkote district.
On Sunday the actor had tweeted a cartoon which showed a man in a vest and lungi, pouring tea. Sharing the same, he wrote, “BREAKING NEWS:- First picture coming from the Moon by #VikramLander Wowww #justasking.”
The actor's social media post on the mission went viral and soon snowballed into a controversy with netizens calling it derogatory and insensitive.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also expressed his displeasure over the actor's tweet. "I condemn Prakash Raj for this shameful tweet. Success of ISRO is success of India," he wrote.
Responding to the row over his social media post, the actor claimed he shared an old joke but 'hate only sees hate'. He tweeted, “Hate sees only Hate.. i was referring to a joke of #Armstrong times .. celebrating our kerala Chaiwala .. which Chaiwala did the TROLLS see ?? .. if you dont get a joke then the joke is on you .. GROW UP #justasking."
The actor's tweet evoked sharp criticism on social media. One person even urged the actor to keep political hate away from ISRO's achievements.
"Prakashji, this Chandrayan mission is from ISRO not BJP. If it gets succeed, it's for India not for any party (sic). Why you want this mission to fail? BJP is just a ruling party. It will go one day. But ISRO will remain for years and will make us proud (sic)," he wrote on X.
While another person wrote, “He is making fun of an achievement that the world considers a milestone."
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.