India, Aug. 26 -- Along the lines of a viral comment by his BJP colleague Anurag Thakur, who told school students that Lord Hanuman could be considered the first space traveller, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that India had "Pushpak Vimaan" long before the Wright brothers invented the aeroplane.

Addressing the convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Bhopal on Monday, Chouhan hailed India's epics and history. "When the world was in darkness, India gave light. Our science and technology were highly advanced. The country had Pushpak Vimaan (planes mentioned in Hindu epics)," news agency ANI reported, as he spoke in Hindi.

"We had the Pushpak Viman long before the Wright brot...