Prakash Raj gives context to his controversial Chandrayaan-3 post, explains the Chaiwala joke

Two days after his post on Chandrayaan-3 sparked controversy, actor Prakash Raj has given clarification and added context. His Sunday post included a joke on a chaiwala or a teaseller. The actor had got massively trolled on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On Monday, he mentioned that it was a reference to the Kerala chaiwala joke from the times of Neil Armstrong, the first man to reach the moon.

Prakash Raj's new post

On Tuesday, Prakash Raj addressed his trolls and wrote, “ATTENTION:-dear #Unacedemy trolls and #godimedia who know only one #Chaiwala .. proudly presenting .. the ever inspiring our own malayali chaiwala since 1960 s ..if you want to be educated please read #justasking"

He also shared a blog post that narrated the Malayali chaiwala-Neil Armstrong joke in detail.

According to the blog post, the story has Neil Armstrong reaching the moon, only to find a Malayali chaiwala was already there before him, with a small shop to sell South Indian delicacies to the aliens. When Neil pleaded to him that he needed to prove he was the first man on moon, so that the US gets ahead of its Cold War nemesis the USSR in the space mission, the Malayali chaiwala called 'Rajendra Krishan Menon' agreed.

Neil later visited the moon again on a secret mission to meet his old friend, only to find a Sardar's dhaba there. The Sardar informed him that the Malayali friend had now moved to Pluto since there was more demand for his delicacies there.


Prakash Raj's controversial post

On Sunday, Prakash Raj shared the post on a microblogging site, and captioned the post, "BREAKING NEWS:- First picture coming from the Moon by #VikramLander Wowww #justasking," with a cartoon of a man pouring tea.

Netizens termed the post “insensitive” and derogatory for the Indian scientists who are responsible for India’s historic moon mission.

One user wrote, "Chandrayaan-3 is something the whole of India must be proud of, irrespective of political ideology. Know the boundary between political vs national trolling."

As he was brutally trolled, Prakash Raj reacted on Monday and wrote, "Hate sees only Hate...I was referring to a joke of #Armstrong times celebrating our kerala Chaiwala-which Chaiwala did the Trolls see? if you dont get a joke then the joke is on you..GROW UP #justasking"

He has reportedly been booked in a police station of Karnataka's Bagalkot district over the social media post.

About Chandrayaan-3 mission

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander aims to create history for India by landing on the lunar south pole on Wednesday evening.

With Chandrayaan-3, India aims to become the fourth country in the world to achieve this feat. If successful, the country would be joining the ranks of the United States, Russia, and China.