Swami Chakrapani Maharaj.
Credit: X/@SwamyChakrapani
All India Hindu Mahasabha national president, Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, called for the Moon to be declared 'Hindu Rashtra' with the Chandrayaan-3's landing spot as its capital.
The seer, who's no stranger to controversy, urged that the Indian government assert its ownership on the Moon before other religions and demanded a Parliament resolution passed to the effect.
"The moon should be declared a Hindu Sanatan Rashtra by Parliament. The landing place of Chandrayaan 3 should be developed as its capital, 'Shiv Shakti Point', so that no terrorist with a jihadist mentality can reach there," he said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Following the historic Chandrayaan-3 landing near the Moon's South Pole, Narendra Modi declared that the site where the lander touched would be called 'Shiv Shakti Point'.
Chakrapani was previously in the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic when he held a 'gaumutra party' in Delhi where he and fellow All India Hindu Mahasabha members drank cow urine to ward off Covid-19.
During the 2018 Kerala floods Chakrapani again invited trouble saying those who ate beef in the state shouldn't receive any help.
Earlier in 2023 the seer also set up a 'Dharma Censor Board' which was meant to monitor content of Bollywood movies, music videos, and web series, to check if anything insults the Hindu religion.
Recently, the decision to name the landing spot Shiv Shakti drew flak from Samajwadi Party MP Sambhal Shafiqur Rehman Barq who alleged that there was a communal motive behind the same.
'Why do they want to communalise everything?', he had said, noting that the point should have been named after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said the landing point was a culmination of science and spiritualism.