MYSURU
Former MP and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC) Working President R. Dhruvanarayan on Wednesday attributed the suffering of Indians caught in war-hit Ukraine to “failure of Narendra Modi Government’s external affairs policy”.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he said the External Affairs Ministry should have given clear instructions to the Indian citizens including the large student population in Ukraine before the war broke out and taken steps for their safe evacuation.
He said the war between Russia and Ukraine did not break out suddenly, but was looming for almost a month with Russia even carrying out a military exercise along Ukraine’s border. He wondered why the Indian Embassy, its central and international intelligence agencies did not caution its citizens and take steps for early evacuation.
Out of 20,000 Indians in Ukraine, about 8,000 have come back so far. But, 12,000 more Indians, including citizens, are still stuck in the war-hit country, he said while condoling the death of medical student Naveen from Karnataka in Kharkiv.
He called upon the Government of India to atleast now take up the issue of Indians stranded in Ukraine seriously and pointed to the social media videos sent by the students about the difficulties they were facing including the scarcity of food and water.
Instead of extending help in the evacuation of the stranded Indians, the Ministers of Central Government and State Government were rushing to airports in India to pose for photographs with students returning from Ukraine. The earlier governments had capably shouldered the responsibility of evacuating Indian citizens stranded in war-hit countries., he claimed.
Mr. Dhruvanarayan mocked at the BJP workers seeking to project Mr. Modi as “Vishwa Guru” by citing the Centre’s “failure” to evacuate countrymen stranded in Ukraine. “If he was Vishwa Guru, why would Indians suffer in Ukraine? It is a failure of India’s external affairs policy”, he said.
Atrocities on Dalits increasing
Meanwhile, contending that atrocities on Dalits had increased under the BJP rule in the country, the Congress leader referred to the murder of a Dalit youth Dinesh in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district in the State allegedly by a Bajrang Dal worker and said the BJP Government in the State had not reacted like it did when Bajrang Dal worker Harsha was murdered in Shivamogga.
Though the State Government had arrested the accused in the murder of Dalit youth Dinesh, the kind of sympathy and financial donations that poured when Harsha was killed was not found in the case, he lamented. Neither the Minister in charge of the district nor the local leaders visited Dinesh’s house even out of courtesy after his death, Mr. Dhruvanarayan said.
