India is a major space power, says Narendra Modi in his address to nation: 'Nation sends its first A-SAT as part of Mission Shakti'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an address broadcast over television, radio and social media to the nation said that India has become the fourth nation in the world to achieve the feat of sending an anti-satellite missile to space, as part of its Mission Shakti.

“India today occupied its place in the space power group. A little while ago, our scientists sent an anti-satellite weapon, A-SAT, into space and it has successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit,” he said.

America, Russia and China are the only countries to have done this, the prime minister said.

“For every Indian, this is a matter of pride,” he added. “The satellite had a pre-determined destination. This operation was completed in three minutes. Mission Shakti was a difficult operation,” the prime minister announced.

The jury is out on whether Modi’s address on the achievement has flouted the Model Code of Conduct rule on the “misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power.”

While the Code says that no road, highway or transport schemes can be announced, it does not speak about space. Modi announced at around 11.15 am on Wednesday that he would address the nation at 11.45 am.

The sudden message on Twitter set off a flurry of speculations on what the prime minister would speak on and what the “important announcement” would be. While journalists had pointed out that he could not be making policy announcements as per the Model Code of Conduct, others highlighted that the announcement would be made shortly after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security .

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, meanwhile, said in his tongue-in-cheek fashion, that Modi might be declaring the “results” of the Lok Sabha election.

A-SATs are designed to destroy threats coming from space. So far, no country has used it in active warfare. While this is an important step forward in space militarisation, it does not significantly count as an important poll plank in the pre-Lok Sabha election atmosphere.

Modi’s address lasted roughly for about five minutes. Modi thanked scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, whose efforts, he said has led to “India putting many satellites in space, which have contributed to farming, education and medicine.”

Calling this a “historic breakthrough,” Modi said security too will receive a major fillip from this. “The technological innovation will benefit the 300 crore people of India, it will ensure their peace,” he said.

ANI quoted former DRDO chief and NITI Aayog member Dr VK Saraswat as having said that this is a “fantastic capability to have”. He added, “It gives us a deterrence in case our adversaries try to militarise the space or try to prevent us from using our existing space capabilities.”

Modi ended the speech with a cry of “Bharat mata ki jai.”

Modi will take to the campaign trail with renewed gusto in the coming weeks. On 28 March, he will speak in rallies at western Uttar Pradesh, and is scheduled to address two back-to-back election rallies in West Bengal on 3 April.