New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for peace and constant dialogue between Russia and Ukraine to resolve the ongoing war on Thursday, and explained the reason for India taking a neutral stand in the conflict.
‘India has a connection with countries involved in the war – economically, security-wise, education-wise and politically as well. India’s several needs are connected to these countries’, PM Modi said, while giving a victory speech to his party workers in Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) headquarters in New Delhi.
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While explaining India’s neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war, PM Modi said that India has links with both nations and appeals for peace and constant dialogue. ‘The ongoing war is affecting every country across the world. India is on side of peace and hopes that all problems are resolved with deliberations’, the PM said.
Earlier, India and 34 other countries abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution that censured Russia over its military actions against Ukraine. India had also abstained from the UN Security Council procedural vote to call for a General Assembly session on the Ukraine crisis. India along with China and UAE had last week abstained from a US-sponsored resolution against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. Moscow used its veto against the resolution.
He then slammed the opposition for trying to regionalize Operation Ganga to evacuate stranded Indian citizens from Ukraine. ‘These people also tried to regionalize Operation Ganga. These people have given a different colour of regionalism and communalism to every scheme – it is a major worry for India’s future’, PM Modi lashed out at the opposition. The Ministry of External Affairs had deployed more than 50 of its Russian speaking officials to execute Operation Ganga in Ukraine. A special team led by a joint secretary to take on-ground decisions vis-a-vis evacuation inside war-torn Ukraine also flew from New Delhi. Nearly 22,000 Indians, mainly students, have already been evacuated including from the most active dangerous zones like Kharkiv and Sumy in Ukraine.
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When the war broke out, idea was to strengthen the embassy in Kyiv. The first additional MEA team reached Ukraine on February 22. After that, it was a real challenge to flow in personnel, said an official familiar with the developments. ‘It is unfortunate that even when thousands of Indian students, Indian citizens were stranded in Ukraine, there was talk of breaking the morale of the country’, the Prime Minister said. MEA had described Operation Ganga as a rare evacuation from the active conflict zone. A 24/7 war room with almost 100 staff members was also activated.
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