The Bengal Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution congratulating Isro scientists for the successful soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 at the South Pole of the moon on Wednesday.

A congratulatory note from the House will be sent to India’s national space agency, sources said.

Speaker Biman Banerjee moved the resolution during the first half of the session and initiated a discussion. The chief whip of the BJP, Manoj Tigga, and minister Chandrima Bhattacharya spoke elaborately and lauded the achievements of the Indian scientists.

“Yesterday (Wednesday) was a historic day.... I believe everyone present in this House is proud of the achievement,” Banerjee said while introducing the resolution.

Bhattacharya read out the names of 22 individuals who hailed from Bengal and were a part of the Isro team. However, BJP’s Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma immediately rectified her, saying she had missed out on the name of a scientist from Mirik.

“I read out from the list of 22 names I had. Then, the honourable MLA told me that there was another person from Mirik. So, 23 scientists (from Bengal) were part of the Isro’s Chandrayaan-3 team. It is a proud moment for the state,” the minister later told this newspaper.

The Assembly, which has conventionally been the battleground for archrivals, the Trinamul Congress and the BJP, witnessed a rare sight as both the sides lauded the successful moon mission.

However, while concluding her speech, Bhattacharya said she was “a little upset” since she couldn’t witness the exact moment the Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon. Although the minister did not elaborate, she hinted at how visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken up much of the screen space immediately after the soft landing.

“Everyone knows what I am saying, I need not elaborate,” she added.

Although the BJP MLAs did not react to Bhattacharya’s comment at that point, Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, later said Trinamul was jealous of the Isro’s achievements and was trying to politicise the issue.

“The first credit for the successful moon mission goes to the scientists of the Isro. But the second credit must go to the Indian government for providing all sorts of support to the Isro,” he added.

Rakhi outreach

Members of Trinamul’s women’s wing will tie rakhis on the arms of 50,000 women across the state on August 30, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. It has a target of reaching out to 10,000 families across Bengal with 20 households in each of the 341 blocks of the state.

Similarly, 20 families in each of the 144 wards of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation will be reached as well.