Chandigarh, March 2
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab President and Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann expressed grief on the demise of Indian student Naveen Sekharappa in Kharkiv and said that vague advisories and non-seriousness of Modi government towards the issue is costing the stranded students so much. Bhagwant Mann criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that concerned ministries and embassy should act more responsibly and with advisories they should suggest route plans and means to reach borders of neighbouring countries.
Bhagwant Mann reiterated that it is impossible for students stranded in eastern parts of Ukraine to reach borders in west. Cities like Kharkiv and Sumy are near Russian border, so Indian government should try to have a dialogue with Russia urging ceasefire and evacuate students from that side. Mann said that students are facing so many difficulties, no food, no means to reach borders of Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia and now back lash from locals due to UNSC vote issue, so the least Prime Minister Modi can do is be more sensitive about this and prioritize it over his election campaign in UP.
Mann said that we (AAP) have been asking Modi government to evacuate Indian students safely and free of cost since before the war and Russian invasion. But Modi led BJP government was too focused on their assembly election campaign in UP and they prioritize it over the lives of 20,000 students. AAP leader said that even the first advisory for Indian students to leave Ukraine came too late and without any actual government assistance with it, where private airlines were changing triple and government did nothing to regulate that. Mann added that even now by naming this evacuation operation as Mission Ganga Modi and BJP just want to take political advantage of such unfortunate situation and this attitude of Union government is disappointing.
