PM Modi said India's handling of the Ukraine crisis reflected its stature in the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India's ability to evacuate citizens from war-hit Ukraine was a sign of the country's growing influence in the global arena and likened the success of 'Operation Ganga' to the government's handling of the coronavirus situation.
"We successfully managed Covid, now the situation in Ukraine; we have evacuated our people safely ... Even big countries are facing difficulty in doing so, but it's India's increasing resilience that thousands of students have been evacuated," PM Modi said at an event at Pune's Symbiosis University.
"It is due to India's growing influence that it has brought thousands of students from the war zone of Ukraine back to their motherland," he said.
Amid the escalating crisis in Ukraine, the Indian government under Operation Ganga has flown 13,700 citizens - who were stuck in war-hit Ukraine - back on special flights that were started last week, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
However, the opposition has raised questions about the campaign that has relied largely on students finding their way to neighbouring countries on their own under extremely adverse conditions before being airlifted to India.
The government's handling of the coronavirus crisis also remains contentious and various measures like the abrupt announcement of a nationwide lockdown in 2020 which hit thousands of poor and the flip-flopping vaccination policy have come under opposition criticism.
Alluding to the political mileage from the Ukraine operation, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the successful evacuation of Indians from the war-hit Ukraine had a positive impact on the state elections.
"Over 13,000 citizens have reached India and more flights are coming in. This process has a positive impact on elections and on the people also," the BJP leader said at a news conference in Delhi, asserting that the party will return to power in all four election states, including in Uttar Pradesh, and make impressive gains in Punjab.