New Delhi, April 5 (UNI) Union Ministers VK Singh, Kiren Rijiju and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who were sent by Prime Minister Modi to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to help with the evacuation of thousands of Indian students, on Tuesday hit out at the Opposition for insinuating that they were sent to seek credit for the Modi government.
In his intervention in the Lok Sabha, on the discussion on Ukraine under rule 193, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Civil Aviation, VK Singh said: “We did not go for our credit, but for the nation.”
He rejected Opposition charges that the 1990 evacuation of 170,000 Indians from Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion was the biggest and that the Modi government was trying to project Operation Ganga as the biggest.
“Every situation is different, the way to tackle it is different and there cannot be any comparison,” he said.
On India’s foreign policy that was questioned by opposition members, due to India abstaining in the UN Security Council, he said: “Any country’s foreign policy needs to be tweaked keeping in mind the time and the situation, and looking at the greater strategic autonomy and what will get us better results. That is all that Foreign Policy is about.”
He also said that the “media played a part” in the notion that India had reacted late to the situation in Ukraine.
Speaking about his own experiences, in past evacuation operations, he said: “Wherever our Indians are there, I have seen in South Sudan, in Yemen and in Ukraine – no one wants to move till the last minute. They feel that the situation will improve. In Ukraine, the university contractors would tell the Indian students that nothing will happen, sit tight.”
Taking a jibe at the opposition, he said: “The reason is not the government’s, the problem is that your research cell said that (that the Modi government reacted late in evacuating students).”
He said the evacuated students have told them there was no delay.
On the difficulty faced by students, he said those students who faced difficulty were those who were stuck in a 25km long line at the Ukraine border. He said the Indian embassy helped the Indians with blankets, water and food.
On the criticism by some students on social media, Singh said: “But some people have the feeling that they should be received there (while being stuck in the 25-km queue)…”
On the report that Indian students were attacked by Ukrainian police, Singh said it happened as the Indians were pushing aside the elderly persons.
“When they pushed the elderly, the police attacked them; and not because we abstained (in the UNSC) but because they were trying to push the elderly and get out. I wanted to clarify this,” he added.
He said that NGOs, NRIs, and religious and social organisations chipped in to help, and the Polish government gave the Indians a 15 days Schengen visa so that the Indians could go on to Germany for evacuation.
He said the ministers were sent to see how they could evacuate the students, and provide them food and blankets.
“When thousands are brought out there will be some who are not satisfied… In this our PM has not sought credit.”
On some students paying USD 500 for a bus seat, he said that some students on their own decided to leave, without waiting for the Indian government. “They came out on their own, and they were not unhappy. At the time of leaving Ukraine they were not unhappy, “ he said.
Referring to the evacuation of Harjot Singh, who was injured and had to be flown out on an IAF plane, Singh said there was a lot of difficulty in bringing him out. The ambulance that was carrying him to the plane ran out of gasoline while taking a circuitous route due to the bombing. The Indian embassy officials had to rush gasoline to the ambulance so that it could come out to the border point for evacuation.
“The work that we did no one can do,” he said.
He also pointed out to western media “disinformation” on the Ukraine war.
“War is destruction, and throws up corpses, and results in massive damage. And this increases as the war becomes more modern, and there is a lot of disinformation;
and the media is a different media (western media), to look for the truth is very difficult. The government is very capable and knows how to handle the situation,” he added.
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, speaking on the issue, said that foreign policy is a very serious issue and the country should not speak in two voices on that, and targeted the opposition for criticising the Modi government’s foreign policy.
Hitting out at the Opposition criticism that the Ministers had been sent to get credit, he said that “if you do work there is criticism and if you don’t there is criticism”.
Referring to his own work in the Slovak Republic, Rijiju said that when he was there to help with Op Ganga, he found that a small airport in Bratislava was not being used. “The airport was opened for India. I spoke with the PM of that country, and he allowed us to use the airport only because of our intervention,”
He said the ministers worked to organise food, stay, and travel for the students.
“At that time when responsible leaders make comments it is painful.. they could have been quiet for the time.”
Rijiju said that it was a collective effort that led to the evacuation of 23,000 Indians from Ukraine, including help by many student volunteers, many Indian origin people who were all selflessly working at the time to feed and look after students.
“At temperatures that are at minus degrees, at the time if someone gives a blanket, or a cup of tea, it is a big job. It is not one person’s effort… The government was not doing it to take credit,” he said,.
He said the Prime Minister of Slovakia praised India’s scale of operation to evacuate its citizens, which he said no other country has done. According to Rijiju, the PM of Slovakia conveyed to him that the world respects PM Modi and that they are looking at PM Modi “with great hope to resolve the conflict”.
Scindia, in his intervention, said that India was among the first nation to issue advisories and had issued four before the war began.
He said that the MEA and the Indian missions in Ukraine and its neighbouring countries set up 24×7 control rooms. The MEA alone handled 13,000 calls and replied to 9,000 emails.
“People were looking at us with hope, and this government was working as a sevak. In a whole of government approach.”
He said that while other countries had shut their missions in Ukraine, India was the only country to keep it open. “The Govt of India arranged for trains and buses in the midst of war,” he said and thanked the Indian mission in Ukraine and every organization and person who had helped with the evacuation.
On Naveen Shekharappa who was killed in Kharkiv, he said that the nation feels the sorrow of losing him.
On Harjot Singh, he said that VK Singh accompanied him and did not leave his side till he was brought back to India and admitted to hospital and had brought along a doctor too.
He said one country that had 6,000 students stuck in Ukraine sent just one plane, and all had shut their embassies and bluntly told their students that the government will not be able to evacuate them. “That is of one kind of government, and this is another kind of government,” he said, referring to Operation Ganga.
“In this sensitive atmosphere, we should not first think of our party but of the nation, and the BJP has always thought of the nation first,” he said, hitting out at the opposition.
