'Hate only sees hate': Prakash Raj defends his post on Chandrayaan-3, calls it a 'joke'

The actor said his earlier tweet was referring to an old joke from the era of Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969.

"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 don't get a joke then the joke is on you.. Grow up #justasking(sic)," Raj posted.

On Sunday, Raj shared a cartoon showing a man pouring tea. He captioned the cartoon in Kannada, writing, "Latest news: First view just arrived from the Chandrayaan #VikramLander #justasking".

The cartoon has an uncanny resemblance with former ISRO chief K Sivan under whose tenure the Moon mission had failed in the final stage.

Sivan had wept when it failed on live nationwide telecast as Prime Minister Modi consoled him.

Prakash Raj is known a virulent Modi critic.

The post of Raj on X, formerly known as Twitter, was seen as a sarcastic and derogatory swipe at the Chandrayaan-3 mission by several social media users.

The post was termed insensitive and derogatory by users who urged him to show respect for the scientists responsible for India's historic Moon mission.

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

"There is a difference between hating someone and hating your country. So sad to see this state of yours!" wrote another.

Chandrayaan-3, launched on July 14, is scheduled to touch down on the Moon's south pole on August 23.