True to the Indian philosophy that the world is one family, the Indian evacuation efforts in Sudan don’t differentiate among the nationalities
In a quick span of time, India has evacuated over 3000 citizens from war-ravaged Sudan. With news breaking of a faction of paramilitary force and army in Sudan fighting it out to grab power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called an emergency meeting. The message was clear for all the stakeholders – each minute is crucial to safely evacuate the Indian citizens. The political leadership seized the moment, knowing that the armed battle for power in Sudan will not quickly end and the Indian citizens should not be caught in the crossfire.
Operation Kaveri was set in motion. INS Sumedha and INS Tarkash quickly sailed the international waters. The IAF pressed into service its heavy transport carriers such as C-130J, C-17, etc. Indian diplomatic Missions threw a ring of safety by connecting with the government of Saudi Arabia, and Jeddah became a point of touch for the evacuated Indians for their journey back home. PM Modi’s warm relations with the king of Saudi Arabia have steadied the bilateral ties, and Jeddah once more showed its friendship to India.
Except for one unfortunate death of an Indian, Albert Augustine, in Sudan, the joint efforts of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy in close collaboration with the diplomatic corps have once more demonstrated that India has come a long way in becoming the first responder in crisis for its own people and others also. This has been made possible because of decisive leadership, which doesn’t lose time and stays ahead in anticipating the turn of events in regions of strife.
Also, ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’, carried out in 2016 in South Sudan, remained a torchlight for the Indian rescue mission once more in the African nation. ‘Operation Samudra Sethu in 2020’ also brought 3992 Indians back home during the Covid-19 pandemic. By now it has been well demonstrated that Indians will not be the last but the first to be rescued, and the world noted the growing strength of the Indian passport.
True to the Indian philosophy that the world is one village, our evacuation efforts don’t differentiate among the nationalities. This was acknowledged by President of France Emmanuel Macron who thanked PM Modi for rescuing and evacuating the French embassy staffers from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.
The Sudan crisis refreshed the global community of the Indian wherewithal in evacuating the people stuck in the strife-torn regions. Only recently, India carried out one of the largest rescue and evacuation missions‘ Operation Ganga’ in Ukraine. Thousands of Indian students stuck in Ukraine were evacuated safely from the war-ravaged region in circumstances that tested the depth of India’s diplomatic ties with eastern European nations and also the manoeuvrability of the logistics.
The ministers camped in the capitals of nations bordering Ukraine, while PM Modi worked with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to even pause the war for limited hours to allow the Indian students to cross over to safe zones. Along with the Indian students, India was able to evacuate and rescue scores of people from other countries. India made it clear that there comes no discrimination and distinction in service to humanity. The global community was in full praise of the scale of operation carried out by India in Ukraine. This again has been singularly made possible because of the political capital deployed in responding to humanitarian crises in any part of the world.
In 2015, India carried out a large-scale evacuation exercise from Yemen as part of ‘Operation Raahat’, evacuating 6710 individuals – 4748 Indians and 1962 foreign nationals. Indian rescue missions have now become household names with films and web series made on them, something which earlier used to be seen only for American films.
Incidentally, Union Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar has been on record recalling PM Modi’s personal involvement in addressing the crisis in many parts of the world. Jaishankar was pleasantly surprised when he saw PM Modi ringing him on his mobile phone late after midnight to enquire about the rescue efforts after the Indian embassy in Kabul had been attacked by terrorists. ‘Operation Devi Shakti’ evacuated Indian citizens and foreign nationals from Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power in Kabul.
India is globally acknowledged as a country with impeccable capabilities to respond in situations of natural disasters. Within hours of the earthquakes jolting Turkey, PM Modi had already held an emergency meeting and the special teams of the National Disaster Response Force were airborne to respond to one of the gravest tragedies in any part of the world in the last few decades. The team of doctors, paramedics and other NDRF personnel who carried out relief works as part of ‘Operation Dost’ won the hearts of the people in Turkey with their quick response to save lives. The Indian efforts in Turkey have been rightly applauded globally for expeditious response to save lives even in situations that were too harsh in the aftermath of the earthquakes.
Such expertise of India was also seen in the wake of the Nepal earthquakes in 2015 which had left deathly trails. The Indian response to ‘Operation Maitri’ was quick and timely to save precious lives. India in fact has tested its capabilities as the first responder in times of natural disasters which had been seen during the Bhuj Earthquake and Uttarakhand floods. The scale has come with a massive investment of political capital by PM Modi.
(Author is the national general secretary of the BJP)
