New Delhi: “The current generation are mentoring the new gen leaders of space, who will take India into the aspirational heights of Bharatiya antriksh station and finally put an Indian on the moon by 2040,” former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairperson Padma Bhushan Dr Koppillil Radhakrishnan said while addressing RSS workers at the annual Vijayadashami celebrations in Nagpur Saturday.
He was the ISRO chairperson from 2009 to 2014 and hails from Thrissur in Kerala, the Lok Sabha constituency that Bharatiya Janata Party won in June—a first for the party in Kerala.
Speaking as the chief guest at the Vijayadashami event, Radhakrishnan said that he also visited RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar’s house and place of birth the previous day. The house, he said, “is a combination of simplicity and greatness”.
“It was great to live a day in this virtuous ambience of self discipline and selfless service at smriti mandir and pay homage to the founder param pujaniya Dr Hedgewar,” he added.
Every year, the Vijayadashami event includes an address by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The event especially assumed significance because the organisation was founded on Vijayadashami in 1925. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and former ISRO chief K. Sivan were also present at the event this year.
Radhakrishnan said that the mere presence of two former chairpersons of ISRO at the event “shows the importance that the country is providing to the space”.
Referring to India’s space odyssey, he asserted that “atmnirbharta, self reliance has been our obsession from the past, not just an objective”.
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Education system in transition
He also asserted that the country’s higher education system is “in a state of transition in the positive direction”.
“Delightfully, an amazing National Education Policy 2020 to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and to mold global citizens with critical thinking, conceptual understanding and human values,” he said.
Dr Radhakrishnan headed the committee constituted by the Ministry of Education in November 2022 that proposed transformative reforms for strengthening the assessment and accreditation of higher education institutions in India.
In June this year, he was also appointed as the chairperson of a high-level committee of seven experts to ensure transparent and fair conduct of examinations, and reform the National Testing Agency (NTA). The move assumed significance in light of the controversy over alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam 2024.
At the event, he said that “transformative reforms in strengthening the periodic assessment and accreditation of higher education institutions are underway”.
Born in Irinjalakuda, Kerala, Dr Radhakrishnan began his career as an avionics engineer at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 1971. He is an alumnus of both IIT Kharagpur and IIM Bangalore. It was during his tenure as space chief that India successfully launched Mangalyaan into Mars orbit in September 2014.
In late 2014, he was also one of the 2014 top ten scientists chosen by the prestigious journal Nature—a first for an Indian working in the country. On its Facebook page, ISRO referred to him as a “Man of Steel” and described him as an “efficient engineer, magnificent manager, an impeccable institution builder; and an inspiring leader”.
Dr Radhakrishnan, it said, “triumphantly led ISRO through many historic milestones in the last five years being at the helm of affairs”.
However, in 2015, soon after his retirement, he was summoned by a CBI team in Bangalore and questioned in connection with the controversial termination of the satellite deal between government-owned Antrix Corporation Limited, which is the commercial arm of ISRO, and Bengaluru-based firm Devas Multimedia Private Limited.
‘Essence of RSS’
While there were no chief guests for Vijayadashami in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid protocols, previous guests of honor include singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan (2023), Nobel winner Kailash Satyarthi (2018) and industrialist Shiv Nadar (2019).
In 2022, it invited mountaineer Santosh Yadav, marking the first time the event had a woman chief guest. The event is traditionally held at its Nagpur headquarters on the day of Dussehra. In 2017, Dalit religious leader Baba Nirmal Das was the chief guest.
Explaining the idea behind these invites, Arun Anand, who has authored two books on the RSS referred to a line in the RSS prayer that says that its primary objective is to take the nation to ultimate glory. “This is the essence of the RSS. And they believe that it’s not just RSS that can take the country to glory … they believe that they are also facilitators to achieve this,” he told ThePrint.
Anand says that this is why, people from different fields, who have contributed to the country, are invited to recognise their work and position them as role models. He also referred to RSS’ programme of ‘guru dakshina’, where there is a similar practice of inviting people who are leaders in their field of work, but aren’t directly associated with the Sangh.
Anand calls it a “two-way street” because these invites have also traditionally allowed these leaders to get a glimpse into RSS’ work.
‘Bharatiya sanskriti’
This isn’t the first time that the former ISRO chief has graced an RSS event. Back in 2016, he was the chief guest at the valedictory ceremony of RSS Akhil Bharatiya Shrung Vadya Shibir ‘SWARANJALI–2016’, held in Bengaluru.
At the 2016 event, Dr Radhakrishnan ended his address with a message to the younger generation. “It is well stated that our human capital especially demographic dividend, holds the key to leap forward or even to leap-frog or to make impossible into possible.
“‘Knowing’ and ‘doing’ are important. But ‘being’ what you are makes a difference in life,” he was quoted as saying.
“Our conviction about our life and its purpose and our value system, would help us to perform our duty to this motherland and humanity as nishkama karma. Each one of us can make a difference for the country and each one of us should strive to leave a legacy when you leave this world,” he added.
At the same event, Bhagwat asserted that Hindu sanskriti or Bharatiya sanskriti is our “identity”.
“Bharat is not just a name of some part or piece of land. The land keeps increasing (or) decreasing based on how it is being treated. The nature of the society is the Sanskriti. This is the Sanskriti which binds us all together, thus is our identity and that is the reason it is known as Hindu Rashtra,” he was quoted as saying.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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