From Operations Ganga to Ajay, Narendra Modi's leadership shines in global conflict evacuations

The world is close to a month of horrific incidents of 7 October, 2023, when Hamas terrorists entered Israeli territory and wreaked havoc. Woke groups have since then attempted to whitewash what happened that day and condemned the Israeli fightback. This must not come as a surprise! The developments, chronology and reactions are vivid to the fair observer. Now, there is no way, an average human wants turbulence. After all, countries and regions progress in times of peace. But as much as it’s convenient to ask it; it’s equally difficult to strive for it. We Bhartiyas, perhaps, remember it in the heroic tales of medieval warriors who fought back invaders with courage and aggression. The Israeli Jews, whose civilisational memory carries the pain of the Holocaust and who have built institutions and structures to survive all these decades, were aghast. From across the world, young Israelis started for their homeland. Rishikesh, in India, was a sight in those early days. But, just like how Israelis wanted to go home to serve their country; there were many Non-Israelis, stuck in the nation at war. Longing to be back in their respective homes, including many from India. We Indians, currently make the largest diaspora in the world; spread across the world, making a living, doing exceptional things, helping many nations grow and becoming the flag bearers of Bharat. That’s perhaps why we find ourselves in conflict situations now and then. We have had Indians in war-torn Afghanistan when the Taliban took over; we had our nurses captured by the ISIS in West Asia, we had our students stuck in Ukraine and sailors kidnapped in an African nation. Desis have seen it all! But, just as we saw these upheavals across the world; we also observed very well-organised, almost flawless responses from the Government of India. This demands credit where it’s due. Evacuation operations since 2014 have become systematic, organised, clinically remarkable, and successful like never before. Indeed, there was a time in the post-independence history of India when the diaspora was not considered a priority. Even more, NRIs were derided with phrases like ‘Not required in India’. In the early 1970s, many Indians in Uganda who were being forced out of the country looked towards a not-so-welcoming India. Even the much-credited largest airlift from the Gulf in 1990 after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait took eons before it came to a slow start. The times have changed and so has India and its priority vis-a-vis Indians spread across the world. Since 2014, there has been a visible shift in the way GOI has responded to such challenges. While there is a long list of such evacuations, Operation Vande Bharat is a case in point. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Prime Minister Modi-led GOI brought back citizens from the epicentre – Wuhan. This was followed by the largest repatriation exercise ever wherein GOI facilitated over 1.8 crore Indians in their journey back home. Interestingly, before the world was taken over by the Israeli-Hamas conflict, another conflict that garnered global attention was the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Over 22,500 Indians were brought back home during the crisis. On 24 February 2022, Russia began bombing multiple locations across Ukraine. Anticipating the same, GOI had sent additional officers to facilitate operations at the Embassy of India in Kyiv (capital of Ukraine). However, as soon as the war began, the Ukrainian airspace was shut. Hundreds of students who were at the airport for the next flight out were surprised to find that their inbound flight was asked to turnaround when it was over the Iranian airspace. All of them converged to the embassy in Kyiv which made quick arrangements to move them to a school next door where there was a bunker big enough to accommodate and shelter them from bombs while other arrangements were made to rescue them out of Ukraine. Over the next two weeks, the GOI under the pro-active leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out Operation Ganga to pull out these thousands of Indians, most of whom were medical students studying in Ukraine, back to India. It was almost impossible and world leaders stand in awe of how India executed it. In hindsight, apart from the proactive leadership, it was the whole-of-government and all-of-society approach by the GOI that made the operation a success. The former means that different ministries and departments of the government worked in tandem under the direct supervision of the prime minister. The latter suggests that GOI roped in the strength of the non-government organisations, corporates and religious-spiritual bodies who have a considerable presence in the region to make the evacuation a success. Consequently, GOI moved the students by land into the neighbouring countries of Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovak Republic and Moldova and flew them back to India. The operation was executed by embassies in these neighbouring countries which were strengthened with additional staff, hundreds of volunteers, different airlines and other officers. The young students were made to feel at home in the neighbouring countries and the GOI under the prime minister’s directions also reached out to the anxious and worried parents in India. It was a massive success. Notably, it is the lessons learned from the Operation Ganga that helped the country to execute Operation Ajay which brought hundreds of Indians back from Israel. It is, indeed, these hitherto unimaginable operations that Indians now consider it a given. Said an evacuee, “Of course, we knew PM Modi & GOI will take us home.” As the operating principle goes – no Indian will be left behind. The author is an academic and policy professional based out of offices in Haryana and Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.