After an emotional hug was shared between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian Space Research Orgsation (ISRO) chief K Sivan, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday called the former 'a leader who inspires faith, hope and optimism'.
Taking to Twitter, Prasad wrote: "A leader who inspires faith, hope and optimism! PM Narendra Modi gives an emotional hug to ISRO Chairman K. Sivan and reaffirms his faith in scientists and engineers of ISRO and Chandrayan 2 team. Proud of our scientists! Proud of our Prime Minister!!"
BJP leader's response comes after Sivan broke down in tears when Prime Minister was leaving the Bengaluru-based space agency after interacting with scientists over Chandrayaan-2.
When Sivan approached him to thank the Prime Minister for his morale-boosting speech to scientists after the agency lost communication with lander Vikram, the ISRO chairman failed to hold back his emotions and broke down in tears. Without any second thought, Modi hugged Sivan and consoled him by patting his back.
The Prime Minister is being widely praised on social media for his gesture and hailing him as an outstanding leader known for his humility.
Former Israeli ambassador to India and Sri Lanka Del Carmon sharing a picture of a hug on Twitter said: "What a moment! What a gesture!"
"This is the moment when a nation stands tall, India is with you"- PM Narendra Modi ji said to boost the morale of the ISRO scientists," Union Minister Kiran Rijiju tweeted.
Earlier in the day, ISRO had informed about the communication loss through a tweet and had said, "This is Mission Control Centre. Vikram Lander descent was as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, communication from Lander to the ground stations was lost. Data is being analyzed."
The Vikram Lander successfully separated from Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter on September 2.
The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter continues to orbit the moon in its existing orbit. The mission took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 22.
( With inputs from ANI )