Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday came out in wholesome praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his efforts to evacuate stranded Indian citizens in Ukraine amid the military conflict with Russia.
Speaking at a civic reception in London on Wednesday, Rajnath Singh, who is currently on an official visit to the UK, revealed that amidst the escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia, PM Modi held talks with the leaders of both countries to ensure a safe corridor for the return of the stranded Indian students, adding that his efforts resulted in a four-to-five-hour pause in the conflict.
"When a military conflict erupted between Russia and Ukraine, parents of our children studying in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine were concerned about their whereabouts and personal safety. Our Prime Minister took it upon himself to ensure the safe return of our students from Ukraine. He rang up Russian President Vladimir Putin and also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. To make sure that any intervention by the US doesn't affect the safe return of our students, he also spoke with President Joe Biden. It was because of his efforts that the fighting was paused for 4-5 hours, enabling the safe evacuation of more than 22,000 students from Ukraine," Rajnath Singh said.
Also underscoring the heavy investment in developing public infrastructure in the country and the digital boom, the Raksha Mantri said, "When it comes to digital transactions, no other country, apart from India, has 80 crore internet users. The whole world has acknowledged and spoken highly of our seamless digital transactions through UPI. Approximately 130 lakh crore digital transactions have taken place in our country till date through UPI."
Meanwhile, the members of Indian community extended a hearty welcome to the Defence Minister by raising chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai and 'Vande Mataram' at the Indian High Commission in London on Wednesday.
At the height of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Centre scrambled 80 flights under 'Operation Ganga' to evacuate stranded Indians from Ukraine.
The government also assigned more than two dozen Union ministers to monitor evacuation missions without any hiccups, sources told ANI earlier.
Further, according to sources, the government put the plan to bring back stranded Indians from Ukraine on fast-track even as the military conflict was raging.
Prime Minister Modi sent four of his central cabinet colleagues -- Jyotiraditya Scindia, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, and VK Singh -- to Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Poland to oversee the evacuation of Indians.
The Indian government has also roped in ministers to monitor the evacuation process and personally receive fellow natives at the Delhi and Mumbai airports, as they arrived from Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Poland under 'Operation Ganga'.
Ministers Jitendra Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rao Inderjeet Singh, Narayan Rane, G Kishan Reddy, Kailash Choudhary, Parshottam Rupala, Bhagwant Khuba, Virendra Kumar, Meenakshi Lekhi, V. Muraleedharan, Bhagwat Karad, Nisith Pramanik, Shantanu Thakur, Rao Saheb Danve, Darshana Jardosh, Devusinh Chauhan, Bharati Pravin Pawar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Subhas Sarkar, and Kapil Patil were assigned to receive the stranded Indians at the airports.
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