Journalism of Courage
Standing by his statement that Internet existed in the age of the Mahabharata, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb Friday said that the Narendra Modi government’s feat of sending “104 satellites a year to space” authenticates what is said in Mahabharata, Ramayana and Upanishads about India’s “most developed science” in ancient times.
The 46-year-old maintained that only those who don’t want to accept that “Bharat had a great civilisation” were opposed to what he had said. According to Deb, 99 per cent of India believes in the “greatness” of Bharat and its civilisation.
Addressing a workshop on commercialisation of Public Distribution System on Tuesday, Deb had said, “Internet and satellite communication existed in the days of ‘Mahabharata’. How else could Sanjaya (charioteer of King Dhritarashtra) give a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of Kurukshetra? It means Internet was there, the satellites and that technology were there in this country at that time”.
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Speaking to a group of journalists in New Delhi on Friday, Deb reiterated his statement. “Ramayana, Mahabharata and Upanishads are credible evidence to our civilisation. If a person (Sanjaya) can see whats happening at the battlefield 50 km away and describe it to the King, there has to be a technique. It can’t be his eyes. There was some technique — Sanjay’s technique is Internet today.”
“Those people who want to belittle Bharat culture, civilisation and traditions, to prove that Europeans were ahead of us and that we had learnt from them are feeling irritated over my remark. They do not want to accept that our country is great. They do not understand these things. I feel the internet could not have been possible if science had not materialised what was described in Mahabharata.”
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Deb argued that the achievements of India in the present proves what he said. “During those times, our country had the most developed science and it is reflected in these books — Ramayana, Mahabharata and Upanishads. It is the same country whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government sends 104 satellites a year to space… So there is evidence to what is said in these books.”
Deb said 99 per cent people in the country “believe what he believes” and that is the reason why “Modi won as Prime Minister and Communism is disappearing from the country”.
“Sitaram Yechury’s parents named him Sita Ram.. They must have had some thoughts when they put both Sita and Ram in his name. Why was he not named after Stalin or Lenin. Even in his name, the thought of Bharat is there. His family also had the same thought. It is a different matter that he chose a different way when he grew up,” he said.
Deb, however, said he did not want to “waste time and resources” in finding out what happened to the “Sanjaya Technique” between the time of Mahabharata and the time when Internet was invented as he had “development of Tripura” to focus on. He claimed that Tripura had already overtaken many northeastern states in initiating programmes of Skill Development.
