– R.K. Sinha
The situation in Sudan has gone from bad to worse due to the fierce civil war going on between the army and paramilitary forces. The whole country is worried about bringing the thousands of stranded Indians back home safely. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs for the earliest possible safe evacuation of Indians stranded in Sudan. It means that now the government has come into action mode.
This is the new face of a changed strong India. Now, wherever Indians or Indians are in trouble, the Government of India does not sit idly by like before. You must remember that thousands of Indian medical students were stuck in Ukraine due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The Government of India immediately brought him home safely. Thousands of Indian students were in Ukraine. They were doing medical, dental, nursing and other professional courses there. Seeing the Russia-Ukraine war, he wanted to leave there and come home. At first no one was able to understand how such a large number of Indian youth studying in Ukraine’s capital Kiev and other cities would be brought home. But if there is will power then everything is possible. This has been proven and shown.
Now just remember the days of civil war in Afghanistan. Indian Air Force and Air India planes continued to bring Indians home from Afghanistan. In the kind of situation that had developed in Kabul, it was not a small matter to bring all the Indians from among the Taliban terrorists. They were brought to Delhi or other parts of the country via Tajikistan. Some aircraft also came via Qatar. At that time, dozens of big development projects were going on in Afghanistan, in which India was also providing all kinds of help to make Afghanistan stand up in a new way. Projects worth thousands of crores of India were stuck. Thousands of Indians were associated with these projects. These Indians were being evacuated safely.
Don’t know how many projects were being prepared from India’s side, from Afghanistan dam to school, power house to roads, Kabul’s Parliament House to power infra projects and health sector etc. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the officials to ensure the safe repatriation of the country’s citizens from Afghanistan and also give shelter to Sikhs and Hindus who want to come to India from there. Sensing the upcoming circumstances only after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the Government of India became active. Obviously, after taking all these steps, the recognition of the Government of India was raised not only within the country but also abroad.
Now before moving ahead let us go back to 1972. Now Indians getting old would remember that in the year 1972, the dictator of African country Uganda, Idi Amin had ordered thousands of Indians living in his country overnight to leave the country within 90 days. However, Indians were the lifeblood of Uganda’s economy. But the eccentric Amin used to do anything else at any time. Due to his decision, a huge crisis had arisen in front of the Indians living there for decades. Then Britain had given shelter to those Indians. Then our Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government had done nothing for those Indians. Why she did this was astonishing to the people. Because, she was not a weak prime minister. At that time, she was at the height of her fame after the independence of Bangladesh and the surrender of 93,000 soldiers from Pakistan. But, she did not take any concrete steps. Didn’t pick up. Don’t know why?
Indians kept getting looted and beaten up in Uganda. We had done nothing except shedding crocodile tears. Those Indians still have a grudge against us. And there should be. Should we expect only brave industrialists from Indians who have settled across the seven seas to come and invest in India?
Today’s India faces a challenge. It was only because of the changed foreign policy of India that we had safely released five Indians who were in jail in Togo. All of them were from Kerala. Togo is a small country in West Africa. In 2015, the Government of India brought back thousands of Indians trapped in Yemen safely. He is an example in himself. He was earlier taken to Djibouti by Indian Navy’s warship INS Sumitra. From Djibouti, these people were brought back to India in four flights. At that time, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces launched military operations against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in which thousands of Indians were trapped.
Now there is a big challenge before the Government of India to bring the citizens of India from Sudan. Prime Minister Modi himself is constantly monitoring the work of bringing back Indians from Sudan. There are also reports of some Indian casualties in the ongoing civil war in Sudan. More than 3000 Indians are currently stranded in Sudan. Due to the conflict in the capital Khartoum, it is difficult to evacuate them. However, it is sad that such a serious internal crisis is going on in India’s friendly country Sudan. Indian experts have been active in the development of the forestry sector in Sudan since 1910.
Mahatma Gandhi visited Port Sudan on his way to England in 1935 and met the Indian diaspora settled in Sudan. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also visited Sudan in 1938. India’s Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen oversaw the first Sudanese parliamentary elections in 1953. The Sudanese Election Commission, established in 1957, drew inspiration from Indian election laws and practices. India provided financial assistance to the Sudanisation Committee, established in February 1954, which was tasked with replacing British staff in the Sudanese government after independence.
India opened its embassy in Khartoum in March 1955. Sudan established its embassy in the capital Chanakyapuri a few years later. Along with America, Britain, China, Sudan’s embassy was also first established in Chanakyapuri area. It is clear from this that India has always attached importance to its relations with Sudan. Now India would also like that the situation there should be peaceful and all the Indians should be taken out safely from there.
(The author is a senior editor, columnist and former parliamentarian.)
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