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From India, the war in Ukraine seems remote and diplomacy refuses to take a clear-cut position on the conflict. But on the internet it invites itself into the public debate. Thousands of Indian students are stuck in Ukraine. Internet users have been following the story of their difficult repatriation for two weeks…
From our correspondent in New Delhi,
Almost every day, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar posts on his Twitter account photos of relieved students returning to India from Budapest or Bucharest. Before the United Nations, India abstained twice from condemning Vladimir Putin’s aggression, before the Security Council and before the Human Rights Council.
« Operation Ganges »
No question of getting angry with Russia, a long-time ally and a very important military partner. Since the beginning of the war, New Delhi has therefore made the repatriation of its citizens, called “Operation Ganges”, the heart of its communication.
The problem is that distress messages from students stranded in place are piling up on social media and making headlines. Like this video posted from the University of Sumy in Ukraine, where we see dozens of students claiming that they will die if they are not evacuated.
The death of a student under Russian fire in Kiev has also suddenly brought the war closer to the subcontinent and tarnished the relationship with Moscow which claims that the Ukrainian security forces are using Indian students as human shields, which New Delhi denies .
The Indian education system in question
This also generated a question: why did so many young Indians go to study so far away? The controversy swells. They were between 15,000 and 20,000 studying in Ukraine before the outbreak of hostilities. An interview with the father of the killed student, who explains that he sent his child to medicine abroad because it was too expensive in India, made the rounds of the networks.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs agreed with him by saying that 90% of Indian medical students who went abroad had failed the NEET, the public entrance examination for the medical sector. Many Internet users therefore accuse the government of Narendra Modi of not opening up enough competition places, especially since India is sorely lacking in doctors. ” They wouldn’t have died in Ukraine if they could have studied in India.e,” many of the posts read.
Day 1 – Modi will solve India Ukraine war.
Day 2 – Modi made sure Indian Students are safe.
Day 3 – Modi would provide help other countries too.
Day 4 – Indian student killed in war.
Modi’s Solution – Don’t go abroad to study.
— Amisha Gokhale (@Amisha_Go) March 1, 2022
A report from the organization responsible for validating medical studies abroad has finished igniting the Web. It shows that in addition to Ukraine, hundreds of Indians have gone to study in distant and sometimes poor countries such as Belarus, Azerbaijan or even Sudan and Tanzania.