Stranded Indian citizens in Kyiv asked to move to railway station for onward journey
New Delhi(PTI): The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Monday advised all Indian students stranded in Kyiv to reach the railway station in the Ukrainian capital for their onward journey to the western parts of the war-torn country.
It said the weekend curfew in Kyiv has been lifted and they can go to the railway station to get out of the city.
"Weekend curfew lifted in Kyiv. All students are advised to make their way to the railway station for onward journey to the western parts.Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations," the embassy tweeted.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, meanwhile, said the sixth flight under India's evacuation mission 'Operation Ganga' left for Delhi from Budapest with 240 Indian nationals.
"Sixth #OperationGanga flight from Budapest. To Delhi with 240 Indian nationals," he tweeted.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday said the main concern for India is ensuring the safety of its nationals stuck in areas witnessing intense fighting including in Kyiv that has around 2,000 Indians.
India has already evacuated over 2,000 of its citizens from Ukraine and more than 1,000 of them have been brought back home on chartered flights from Hungary and Romania.
The areas in the east of Ukraine including Kharkiv and Sumy are the conflict zones and India has been focusing on taking out its citizens from these areas to the country's western region for their subsequent evacuation through border crossings to Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia.
"The Ministry of External Affairs, under the direct supervision of the External Affairs Minister, and the overall guidance of the prime minister is doing everything possible to make sure that the safety, security and the interests of our citizens in Ukraine are given the highest priority," Shringla said.
India on Friday managed to set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary, Romania and Poland.
India also positioned teams of officials at Zahony border post in Hungary, Krakowiec as well as Shehyni-Medyka land border points in Poland, Vysne Nemecke in the Slovak Republic and Suceava transit point in Romania to coordinate the exit of Indian nationals from Ukraine.
India is using the land routes to evacuate its citizens as Ukraine has closed its airspace for civilian aircraft following the Russian attack.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
