We Can't Abandon Our Own People: Rahul Gandhi On Indian Students Stranded In Ukraine

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked the government to urgently share its evacuation plan with those stranded in Ukraine and their families as he shared a video of some students being harassed by the military there. "My heart goes out to the Indian students suffering such violence and their family watching these videos. No parent should go through this," he said on Twitter while sharing the video of some students. "The GOI must urgently share the detailed evacuation plan with those stranded as well as their families. We can't abandon our own people," Gandhi also said. Gandhi and the Congress party have been criticising the government for not evacuating Indian students in time from Ukraine and have called for urgent steps to evacuate them, after Russia attacked Ukraine. A number of Congress leaders have shared videos of Indian students in Ukraine highlighting their plight and making appeals to the Indian government to evacuate them soon. 

The Congress also tweeted the video of Indians being beaten up in Ukraine and said, "These sticks on foreign land are falling on the honour and prestige of the country, not on the children of the country, Prime Minister ji. Leave elections, remove the stress of the children of the country, Prime Minister ji." Sharing the same video, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also asked, "Modi ji, You will turn your face even after seeing such atrocities on our Indian children? Will Indians trying to save their lives from bombs and missiles be subjected to such cruelty?." "Instead of giving advise, is there any plan to bring back thousands of Indians safely from Ukraine? Will you stop electioneering and discharging your duties? #UkraineRussiaWar," Surjewala said in a tweet in Hindi. Sharing Gandhi's video, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also said in a tweet in Hindi, "Due to wrong strategy and lack of foresight, thousands of our children are trapped in Ukraine. Things are getting worse and time is running out. Protecting Indian citizens and their lives should be our first duty." 

Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak highlighted the plight of Indian students stuck in Ukraine, and said it is giving sleepless nights and troubling everyone in the country, except the Modi regime. She claimed that thousands of Indian students are stuck in war zone, in bunkers, without food, water and medical attention and in an atmosphere of constant fear and loss of life without any support of the government. "Students are crying out for help, requesting the Modi government to intervene but to no avail. We saw a video last night on the Ukraine-Poland border where students are being beaten up. What is it if not a matter of shame for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government that they have decided to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to this entire terrible situation," she told reporters. "Modi ji was so busy in electioneering that his government did not consider it necessary to issue an advisory in advance to students in Ukraine, as had been done by other countries like the United States," Nayak said. On some Indians being evacuated, she said, "Instead of beating the drum and taking credit, the priority of the government should be to bring the remaining Indian students stuck in Ukraine." She also alleged that the foreign policy of the Modi government has been a failure as neighbouring countries have been able to bring back their citizens to the Poland border much in advance.

PTI Inputs