AGARTALA: Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday stood by his statement about the existence of internet and satellite communication in the age of the 'Mahabharata', accusing his critics of "lacking nationalism". Governor Tathagata Roy came to the CM's defence, saying that "prototypes" must have paved the way for present-day technologies."A small section of people in our country are desperate to undermine India's status and highlight that of others because of their lack of nationalism. I believe only narrow-minded people can do such things and trigger a controversy without trying to understand the depth of the statement. But I stand by my belief," Deb said on Wednesday.Indian philosophy and epics have elements of modern scientific thought, the chief minister said. "The descriptions (of certain phenomena) in epics like Mahabharata can be studied by scientists," he added.Addressing a workshop on the commercialization of Public Distribution System on Tuesday, Deb had said, "Internet and satellite communication had existed in the days of 'Mahabharata'. How else could Sanjaya (the charioteer of King Dhritarashtra in the epic) give a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of Kurukshetra ? It means internet was there, the satellites and that technology was there in this country at that time."

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