Jaishankar says evacuation of Indian students got delayed due to 'confusing political statements' by Ukraine

New Delhi [India], March 16 : Defending Indian Government against questions from the Opposition over the delayed evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine amid worsening war with Russia, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that the delay was caused due to "confusing political statements" by the Ukrainian government.
"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had himself said that there was no need to panic. leaders in Ukraine were saying at the time that people leaving would contribute to creating a sense of panic...Sitting here, it is very easy to pass judgements saying: we should have done this earlier or faster, but please understand what was the situation of the students...who do they listen to?", said Jaishankar in the Rajya Sabha on the "Situation in Ukraine".
He said that Indian students were actually encouraged, in fact, positively discouraged by the Ukrainian universities from leaving the country.
"President Zelenskyy was publically saying, 'Please don't be alarmed. What we should prevent at any cost is to prevent the spread of panic.' Now, what was happening to the poor students living in Ukraine was, they were watching Ukrainian television, they were reading Ukrainian newspapers, they were receiving signals from the Ukrainian Government telling them, 'don't get alarmed, don't leave'. In fact, you heard leaders saying that anybody leaving is contributing to a sense of panic," said Jaishankar.
He said that Indian students were confused and hence there was a delay in the evacuation process.
"Whom do the students listen to? They listen, first of all, to the University, they listen to the student advisors, they listen to the local Government and they listen to other students. They talk to their families and ask them if they should come back or not. Having said all that, let us also recognize that about 4,000 of them actually returned due to our advisories," said Jaishankar.
He also asked the Opposition members to avoid making sweeping judgements that you should have done that, you should have done this, saying, "Please think of the students. Don't tell students who are in that situation that at that time their judgement was wrong. I think they did what they thought was right under the circumstances and we should not second guess them at this time. In fact, from our side, we also increased the number of flights at that time to encourage people to come, and reduced the cost of flights back home."
Despite challenges posed by a serious ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, India ensured the safe return of 22,500 citizens to their homes under 'Operation Ganga'.
Speaking about the situation in Ukraine and the implications that it has had for India, including for our national residents there, Jaishankar further said 150 foreign nationals of 18 countries were also evacuated from conflict zones and brought to India in line with India's principle of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.
Among the foreign nationals evacuated are India's immediate neighbours like Bangladesh and Nepal, said the Minister, adding, "many of the Ukrainian nationals that are family members of Indian nationals have also been evacuated, and we also provided free passage to Ukraine nationals from India to Poland in our evacuation flights."
Under 'Operation Ganga', Jaishankar said, 90 flights have been operated, out of which 76 were civilian flights and 14 were Indian Air-force flights.
"The evacuation flights were from Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. While Indian Air-Force rose to the occasion, most of the private airlines, that includes Air India, Air India Express, Indigo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go-Air and Air Asia, also participated enthusiastically."
During this period, the Minister stated, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself spoke to Presidents of Russia and Ukraine on multiple occasions. "He (PM) specifically took up the issue of safe evacuation of Indian nationals, especially from Kharkiv and Sumy. PM also spoke to the Prime Ministers of Romania, Slovak Republic, Hungary and President of Poland to seek their support for facilitation of entry of Indian nationals to their countries."
I was in constant touch with my counterparts from Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova for similar reasons, said the Minister.
He also said that Foreign Secretary maintained contact with the Ambassadors of Ukraine and Russia in New Delhi, while our Ambassadors in Kyiv and Moscow followed up in their respective capitals.
Prime Minister deputed four Union Ministers as Special Envoys to Romania, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Poland to facilitate Operation Ganga.
This included Jyotiraditya Scindia to Romania, Kiren Rijiju to the Slovak Republic, Hardeep Singh Puri to Hungary and Gen (Retd.) and VK Singh to Poland. Their personal supervision of the evacuation processes made a substantial difference in the ease of border crossing and the care taken of our citizens thereafter.