British Journalist Asks India to Return Rs 24,081 Crore After Chandrayaan-3’s Success, Faces Backlash

August 23 will be remembered as a historic day for the entire nation and will be forever etched in our hearts as Chandrayaan 3 made a successful landing on the moon. With this, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has another feather in its cap. Achieving this, India became the first country in the world to land on the uncharted surface of the moon. However, it seems like the British media is not that happy with our achievement. A video which is currently going viral shows a British journalist asking India to return the Rs 24,081.09 crore that the government had provided as an aid fund between 2016 and 2021.

In the video, the journalist can be heard saying, “I would like to congratulate India for landing on the dark side of the moon. I would also like to invite India to return the Rs 24,081.09 crore of aid money that we sent them between 2016 and 2021. We are also set to give the Rs 597.03 crore next year. But I think the British taxpayer should keep a hold of that. We should not be giving money to countries with a space program as a rule.”

With this, he also explained the poverty situation in India and why the government needs to support the country. Here, have a look for yourself:

The video, however, did not sit well with Indians. Many took to the comment section and slammed the journalist. “In Global South that’s called being a laughing stock. You can’t enrage no one, buddy! Just return what your British empire looted from India!” wrote an ‘X’ user. Another person mentioned, “Remember…. Nothing shames a Brit more than the success of India. They get reminded about “aid” whenever they see India’s successful space program. It’s very revealing how much shame they feel when they see India’s succees (against their own failures and gradual progression into irrelevance). So they need this kind of rhetoric about “aid” to diminish Indian’s pride and happiness.”

Here are a few responses:

Meanwhile, an old video which has resurfaced showed UK media house ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’ popularly known as BBC, questioning India’s decision of investing into space mission. In the video, the BBC anchor can be seen asking whether “India, which lacks infrastructure and has extreme poverty, should spend this much amount of money on a space programme.” The video, after being uploaded, went viral immediately and angered people online. Many can be seen slamming the broadcasting corporation. Indian business tycoon Anand Mahindra also shared the video and gave a response for the same.