By N.U. Abdul Razzak Udayar
Operation Ganga rescues over 18000 from war-hit Ukraine
“Everything is fair in love and war”. The bitter truth of this axiom is being painfully witnessed as thousands of Ukrainians and expatriates struggle to move out of Ukraine as for it is being tactfully invaded by Russia with the courtesy of the so-called Western Elite Nations who just pay mere lip service to Ukraine at her need of the hour. While the war is being waged by Russia and the underdogs of Ukraine since 24th February 2022, our neighbour, mighty India is in another battle to save thousands of people who are trapped in Ukraine. Operation Ganga, the brainchild of the Indian Government under the astute leadership of Prime Minister Modi got started on 25th February to safely evacuate over twenty thousand expatriates mostly the Indian citizens who were trapped in Ukraine. Of these 18 thousand are students of Higher Education pursuing professional courses in the universities in Ukraine This 13-day Humanitarian Evacuation operation got completed on 10th March as the war got aggravated. This operation was carried out from the neighbouring countries of warring Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova as the Indian flights carried their stranded citizens back to their mother country from the airports of these counties.
The cynosure of Rescue Operation
The cynosure of this humanitarian mission was the safe evacuation of the Pakistani female undergraduate, Asma Shafique who was struggling for her dear life in Ukraine. She has sincerely placed a bouquet of gratitude to India for its magnanimity for lifting her from danger to let her join the family in Pakistan. Similarly,11 Nepalis including an undergraduate, Roshan Jha and a Bangladeshi were also securely evacuated by this life-saving mission of India.
The first flight of Operation Ganga reached New Delhi from Bucharest on 26th February 2022 carrying over 250 Indians of whom the majority are students of Higher Education. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally contacted the Russian President, Vladimir Puttin over the phone on 23rd February and got the nod from him to carry out this mission effectively. Subsequently, the Russian leader asked his military to allow the Indian Humanitarian Rescue Mission to carry out its evacuation operation. The victims of the Russian Ukraine war who reached the aforementioned neighbouring nations of Ukraine were systematically flown back to India for around 13 days thus ending its operation successfully. Over 18 thousand Indian expatriates have joined back their families wiping the tears of their loved ones back at home.
There are hundreds of volunteers of these neighbouring nations of Ukraine, particularly Romania that bent over backwards to help the affected people safely reach the airports of them to make the affected reach home safely.
Step Motherly Treatment
It was sad to hear that there was discrimination shown by some Ukrainian military officials as the Ukrainians and the Europeans were given priority in the rescue struggle. According to twenty-one-year-old Rajarshi Shyam, an undergraduate of India, Ukrainian officials showed racial discrimination to Indians and Africans when thousands rushed to leave the war-torn Ukraine helter-skelter.
This stepmotherly treatment of some Ukrainian officials is completely overshadowed by the smooth flow of Operation Ganga. Oh, Great India! Let your mighty mission continue as the whole world is kept under the threat of approaching another world war.