"We have done a lot. We provide benefits of telemedicine to Afghanistan and African countries but Yeh dil maange more (the heart wants more).
I have proposed to our scientists that they develop a SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) satellite. This will help all our neighbours," he said in a speech shortly after the country's indigenous Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off today from a spaceport here carrying five foreign satellites.
He borrowed the martyr's famous catch-phrase to ask for votes: "Yeh dil maange more!" but it generated a controversy with Batra's family objecting to it.
Capt Batra immortalised the words "Yeh dil maange more," the catch-line from an ad campaign.
In his congratulatory speech, Modi also hailed India's low-cost space technology, and made a reference to "Gravity", a 2013 British-American 3D epic science fiction thriller film.
"I have heard that the Hollywood movie Gravity cost more than our Mars mission - this is a great achievement," he said, adding," Our scientists have shown the world, a new paradigm of Frugal Engineering, and the power of Imagination. Friends, this success of ours has deep historical roots."
Last year, India launched a bid to become the first Asian nation to reach Mars with a mission.
The total cost of 73 million USD for the Mars mission was less than a sixth of the 455 million USD earmarked for a Mars probe launched shortly afterwards by US space agency NASA.
India's Mars rocket or Mangalyaan is expected to reach the red planet on September 24.
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