CHENNAI: Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said Tamil Nadu will make progress in the space sector by thwarting the false narratives being spread by “the party known for betraying the state and another party that has fully surrendered to the former”, a veiled jibe at the BJP and the AIADMK.
Since the state cabinet approved the space industrial policy this week, social media has been abuzz with criticisms from opposite political camps, claiming it is intended to benefit a select few. Former BJP state president K Annamalai alleged it is to benefit a startup company, in which Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son-in-law V Sabarisan is an investor and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan is an advisor. “Is this how the detractors reward Narayanan, who made significant contributions to space research,” Rajaa asked.
Without naming the company, Rajaa said the firm has made no investment and the policy is no way connected to it.
In a post on X, Rajaa said the planning and preparations for the policy have been under way for nearly two years with the involvement of experts from IIT and other premiere institutions. Under the garb of belittling the government, the opposition parties are belittling experts from the space sector, he said.
Alleging that Gujarat recently released a space policy that was “copied” from Tamil Nadu, Rajaa asked, “Was it launched to help the friends of the ruling dispensation there?”