Facing ridicule from different sections for claiming that “Internet and information technology existed during the Mahabharata era”, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday defended his statement saying only “narrow-minded people won’t believe it”.
He received support from the State’s Governor Tathagata Roy who claimed that Mr. Deb’s observation is “topical”.
“Narrow minded people find it tough to believe this (Internet in the Mahabharata era). They want to belittle their own nation and think highly of other countries. Believe the truth. Don’t get confused and don’t confuse,” Mr. Deb told media persons when asked about his controversial statement.
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The Chief Minister, while speaking at a programme on computerisation of public distribution system here on Tuesday, had said that he believed Internet, information technology and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata.
He said in the epic Mahabharata it has been mentioned that Sanjay (the charioteer of Dhritarashtra) gave a live commentary of the war of Kurukshetra between the Pandavas and the Kauravas to the blind king Dhritarashtra.
The Chief Minister’s statement drew sharp ridicule from his opponents, academicians and social media users who termed his contention as “unscientific”, “illogical” and “retrogressive”.
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Amidst the controversy, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy backed the Chief Minister on Twitter.
“Tripura Chief Minister’s observations about the happenings of the Puranic period are topical. It is virtually impossible to conceive of devices like ‘Divya drishti’, ‘Pushpaka Ratha’, etc without some kind of prototype and study thereon,” Mr. Roy, himself a civil engineer, said in a tweet.
(With PTI inputs)