It’s an irony that while citizens are facing the uncertainty of life in Kharkiv there is already chest-beating and political propaganda that is being unleashed back home. While the entire nation is restlessly waiting to see citizens back home, and some mourning the tragedies, the attention of our leaders seem to be divided between Uttar Pradesh and Ukraine (BLURB)
Indian government's three urgent advisories in one hour to its citizens in Kharkiv on Wednesday read: Leave Kharkiv immediately, proceed on foot if you must. Make it to the safe points at all costs. The tone of these advisories suggests that there is a major assault on the cards on Kharkiv, the second-largest Ukrainian city.
It appears that evacuation is fast going out of India's control because asking citizens to even move by foot explains the exigency. Moving on foot is nothing short of suicidal under the current situation since the area is under heavy shelling with government buildings bombarded, cities targeted and civilians fired at, besides the 'shoot-at-suspect' approach adopted by forces.
The biggest challenge for Indian citizens now is to reach the designated contact points at Pesochin, Babaye and Bezlyudovka, before boarding the flight to India. The distance between these 'designated points' is around 11-16 kilometres and could take around 15-20 minutes by bus or car. The question is, there is no transport available connecting to these three areas. So how do Indian officials expect citizens to move out of Kharkiv?
There's no denying that the Indian government has galvanised its resources and pushed the paddle on the evacuation process by increasing the number of rescue flights besides inducting military aircraft. But the glaring failures are showing. The failure to contact a majority of the citizens in Ukraine and to provide them safe transportation is staring at the Indian government even as it trumpets its evacuation exercise back home. On the ground, we hear stories of students holed up making bunkers and university campuses their homes and no embassy staff contacting them. All they have been hearing is the sound of artillery, explosions, shelling and not the voice of someone offering help.
It’s an irony that while citizens are facing the uncertainty of life in Kharkiv there is already chest-beating and political propaganda that is being unleashed back home. While the entire nation is restlessly waiting to see citizens back home, and some mourning the tragedies, the attention of our leaders seem to be divided between Uttar Pradesh and Ukraine.
The most unfortunate part is that politics doesn't slow down even during these trying and testing times where the entire nation is waiting in hope and prayer. While Indians in Ukraine are trying to walk the thin line of life-and-death, there is a heavy exchange of political fire on Uttar Pradesh's electoral turf when even evacuation has become the bargaining point with Operation Ganga pitted against Operation Danga.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thunders about how India's rising power helped the government to evacuate its citizens. India’s proximity to Russia and the diplomacies are beyond doubt, but the question is why could India not get inputs on the Kharkiv attack earlier? Why could the government not organize transportation for its citizens instead of letting them go do through an inhuman ordeal? What was the reason behind delaying the evacuation process when it was clear that the ground situation was grim? Many such questions will need answers.
