Overview

• The BJP MP told students on National Space Day at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Pekhubela in Una that he believed Lord Hanuman was the first space traveller, later posting the clip on X with the caption, “Pawansut Hanuman Ji… the first astronaut.”
• Students had answered “Neil Armstrong” to his question about the first person in space, while reports reiterated that Yuri Gagarin made the first human spaceflight in 1961 and Armstrong was the first to walk on the Moon in 1969.
• DMK MP Kanimozhi called the claim deeply troubling and said presenting myth as fact misleads children and violates the constitutional spirit of scientific temper.
• The video went viral as X community notes and users corrected the record, generating ridicule, criticism and discussion about education standards.
• No correction from Thakur has been reported, and the conversation widened as BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan separately claimed India had flying machines long before the Wright brothers.