Union minister Piyush Goyal, on Wednesday, accused Indian students in Ukraine of not taking the government advisories issued before the Russian invasion seriously, and said more students should have moved out of that country before the war broke out.
The minister pointed out that the government issued first advisory in this regard on February 15, and later two more were issued. "4,000 people came before war broke out, more could have come. Neither students took advisory seriously nor their universities permitted them to leave Ukraine," he said, reports news agency ANI.
"Many countries floundered in evacuating citizens from Ukraine. India evacuated its citizens through neighboring nations and people brought their pets back too. We evacuated citizens from Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh as well."
A Pakistani citizen was among 17 foreign nationals who were rescued by India from Sumy in Ukraine where they were stuck for about a fortnight amid continuous bombing by Russia. Besides the Pakistani woman, a Nepalese citizen, two Tunisian and 13 Bangladeshi nationals were rescued by India, along with nearly 700 Indian citizens.
The minister said BJP workers met the families all the students who were stranded in Ukraine, heard their grievances and conveyed the same to the Union government.
He accused the Congress and other opposition parties of spreading misinformation and misleading people instead of helping families of those stranded in Ukraine.
Goyal also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was constantly worried about the safety of Indians stuck in Ukraine.
