Indian nationals, evacuated from crisis-hit Ukraine, upon their arrival at the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad, early on March 3, 2022. As part of Operation Ganga, the first IAF C-17 Globemaster aircraft carrying 200 passengers, mostly students returned to Hindan airbase near Delhi, from Bucharest at around 1:00 AM. (PTI Photo)
New Delhi, March 3 (PTI): The Congress on Thursday continued its attack on the government over bringing back safely Indian students from war-hit Ukraine with Rahul Gandhi saying evacuation is a duty and not a favour.
On Twitter, Gandhi shared a video of an Indian female student who says the government's duty is to provide them safety in Ukraine and help them safely escape from the war zone and not just bring them back when they crossed over into a safe neighbouring country.
"Evacuation is a Duty, not a Favour," Gandhi tweeted.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also shared the video and attacked the government.
This brave daughter of India has exposed Fake PR of Modi Government! As PM, Home Minister and Defence Minister were busy in election rallies, this was the harrowing experience of our children in Ukraine, he said.
Rahul Gandhi and party MPs - Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma -- also attended a meeting of the Consultative Committee on External Affairs where they said that the interest of the country is paramount for all of them and their suggestions are being given with a positive mindset.
Sources said they also said the government did not take effective steps in time for the students trapped in Ukraine and that it should have acted quickly to get our people out .
They also said the advisories issued by the embassy there were confusing, due to which most of the students remained there. The Indian government should have used India's goodwill to mediate between the two countries so that violence could have stopped, they added.
Maintaining that war situations are always challenging and "there are no perfect solutions in such situations", Gandhi said that for the time being our priority should be to get our students out of Ukraine safely , according to the sources.
Congress MPs said that in such a war situation, we cannot adopt a partisan approach and it is necessary for India to remain neutral so that our people can get out safely , the sources pointed out.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "Leaders of the world should desist from uttering nuclear war as nuclear warheads available now are capable enough to turn the world itself into extinction."
Party's whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore target BJP leaders and ministers over their statements on the evacuation of students.
When in Iraq 1,70,000 Indians got back in 1990, 70000 Indians from Libya got back in 2011 but no dramabhazi .. now Ministers getting lessons from Mayor of other countries.. #Romania #Ukraine," he said in a tweet.
"Why BJP Ministers do this cheap things?" he said. Why this Dramabazi Mr Ministers.
Congress MPs from Punjab had on Wednesday called on Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi and requested her to sensitise the government about the need to further augment and reinforce evacuation efforts for Indians.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from news agency feeds and has not been edited by The Morung Express.
Source: PTI
