NEW DELHI: While the entire world praised the successful launch of India’s third lunar mission Chandrayaan 3, it appears that the success of ISRO’s ambitious space programme has not gone well in some quarters, with a leading British politician making a controversial statement in his sarcastic congratulatory message. It may be noted that India's Chandrayaan-3, launched from Sriharikota, is on an ambitious mission to explore the lunar surface. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is expected to make an eventful landing on the Moon's surface on August 23, 2023. 


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The British Politician in question, Paul Golding, took to Twitter and tweeted, “Well done, India, on the success of your space program. And shame on UK politicians who keep unnecessarily giving tens of millions of pounds in ‘foreign aid’ to India.”


 



 


Through his cryptic tweet, Golding reminded India of “millions of pounds of UK aid,” however, he was brutally trolled by Indian Twitter users for his uncanny congratulatory tweet. 


While some highlighted the fact that Britain looted USD 45 trillion and killed millions of innocent Indians, others reiterated that this unwarranted “aid” only goes into the hands of notorious NGOs that serve as a front for Christian missionaries and try to create divisions in Indian society. 


Some even asked Britain to return the precious Indian diamond - Koh-i-Noor - and other items that the British looted and took with them. Many netizens also stressed that India has long stopped accepting any aid from the UK, and now its grants and investments go towards NGOs.


So, Who Is Paul Golding?


 


Paul Golding is the co-founder and leader of Britain First. Hailing from Dartford, Kent and now residing in Salford, Greater Manchester, Golding has spent over two decades in UK far-right politics and is the dominant personality in Britain First.


The British National Party


 


Golding first emerged into prominence in 1999 as a teenage member of the fascist British National Party (BNP) and was quickly appointed editor of the youth publication Excalibur. While serving as Director of Publicity, Golding also briefly took the reins of the BNP’s flagship magazine, Identity, having established a close relationship with then-leader Nick Griffin.


As a party propagandist, Golding pushed the BNP’s brand of racial nationalism, seeking to cloak the party’s fascism under a guise of false patriotism. As he later told a party meeting: “We have hi-jacked the Union Flag, now we must hi-jack the word ‘British’”.


Golding’s exploits generated both internal rancour and bad press, however, and his rise in the party soon slowed. Golding was severely criticised for arriving drunk at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday with a pair of women’s underwear on his head, for his violent altercation with future BNP councillor Lawrence Rustem. Consequently, Golding was demoted in 2002, much due to the efforts of Mark Collett, the current leader of the fascist group Patriotic Alternative.


However, he re-emerged as a force within the party in the late 2000s, adopting the role of “projects coordinator”. He was elected as a BNP councillor in Sevenoaks District Council, Kent in 2009> However, he was accused of having “done nothing” by residents in the local newspaper. Having helped to arrange the purge of various high-ranking BNP officials, Golding followed the influential party fundraiser Jim Dowson to Northern Ireland, belatedly quitting both the BNP and his council post in 2011. 


By Britain First’s own count, by October 2021 Golding had “been arrested twenty times, been in three different prisons and prosecuted ten times”, as well as facing trial on further occasions. At the 2023 local elections, Golding is standing in Swanscombe ward in Dartford.


Here are some of those reactions to his tweet on Chandrayaan 3 success -