Ex-ISRO Chief’s U-turn: Slammed China in 2007, Praises Modi Govt

Madhavan Nair has now said that India had “no political” will in 2007 to demonstrate ‘Mission Shakti’.

Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair have been granted bail in the Antrix-Devas deal case.

(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

Former ISRO Chairperson G Madhavan, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year, said that India had the anti-satellite missile capability more than a decade ago, but there was "no political" will at the time to demonstrate it.

“...now (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji has taken the initiative and he had the political will and courage to say that we will do this. We have now demonstrated this to whole world,” Nair told PTI.

However, according to The Indian Express, Nair had in 2007 admonished China for shooting down an ageing weather satellite, adding that it was against international convention.

“They (China) should not have done that. It’s against international convention…. we are not supposed to weaponise outer space… by killing a satellite, you create much more debris. Today about 8,000 objects are there in orbit. By blasting one satellite, you create another few hundred (objects). I don’t know why they did that.”

Madhavan Nair, Former ISRO Chairperson

He had headed the ISRO, Space Commission and was Secretary in the Department of Space from 2003 to 2009. Nair joined the BJP in October 2018.

The prime minister on Wednesday announced India had demonstrated the capability by shooting down a live satellite, describing it as a rare achievement that puts the country in an exclusive club of space superpowers.

India is only the fourth country to have such a specialised capability after the US, Russia and China.

(With inputs from PTI, The Indian Express)