Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday slammed the BJP-led Centre over 'Operation Ganga', saying he would have applauded if stranded students were evacuated from war-hit Ukraine directly.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Mr Yadav questioned the claims of having evacuated the students from Ukraine, saying the Centre "failed to evacuate Indians".
Calling the operation a mere political stunt for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Mr Yadav said, "Don't know which international recognition they are boasting about. They (BJP-led Centre) failed to evacuate Indians, named evacuation 'Operation Ganga' because of the polls in Varanasi. Had they rescued our people from Ukraine directly I would've appreciated it."
The Centre arranged for flights from neighbouring countries of Ukraine for the evacuation of Indian students under 'Operation Ganga'.
The government on Sunday said that it has evacuated nearly 16,000 Indian students since February 22 from Ukraine.
Conflict erupted in Ukraine on February 24 when Russia launched a special military operation there.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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