External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a consultative committee meeting on Thursday to discuss the process of evacuation of Indian students stranded in Ukraine; the minister denoted that any allegations of delays in the evacuation plans are false. He stated that students were unsure of leaving their universities, and doubted their academic position even though Ukrainian authorities were giving assurances on the situation.
The 21-member committee met for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. The panel is headed by Mr Jaishankar, who along with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, lead the discussion. Nine MPs from six political parties attended the meeting.
The list included Shiv Sena member Priyanka Chaturvedi, who has been questioning the government on the issues faced by Indian students in Ukraine. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a member and attended the meeting along with Anand Sharma and Shahi Tharoor. The meeting came after growing criticism from the opposition on the handling of evacuation of Indian nationals from the war-torn country.
Rahul Gandhi has expressed his criticism of the government’s decisions on social media. During the meeting, he asked questions regarding the amount of time taken to start the evacuation process of Indian students from Ukraine.
The Congress leader also needed Jaishankar’s reply on “how China and Pakistan getting closer to Russia,” touching upon worries that China might copy Russia’s aggression on Indian borders. Jaishankar responded by saying that ‘India is not Ukraine’.
After the meeting took place, the external affairs minister tweeted, “A national consensus on the importance of dialogue and diplomacy. Thank all members for their participation. Just completed an MEA consultative committee meeting on developments in Ukraine.
A good discussion on the strategic and humanitarian aspects of the issue. Strong and unanimous message of support for efforts to bring back all Indians from Ukraine.”
Shashi Tharoor, who attended the meeting had many words of praise directed at the MEA after the meeting, tweeting out several posts on how the consultative panel was comprehensive and appreciated the candid responses from the MEA to their questions and queries.
Opposition leaders assured that there was no negativity and the committee supported the government’s efforts to bring back stranded Indians
Published By- Bharat Anand
Editor- Subbuthai Padma
