Will China be emboldened by the Russian action against Ukraine to take a similar step towards India, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi sought to know during a three-hour meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs.
The meeting was attended by nine MPs including Mr. Gandhi and Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma. The committee was briefed on the Russian offensive against Ukraine by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and officials from the Ministry.
Also read | Comment: The Ukraine war, India and a stand of non-alignment
Sources said the meeting was largely non-confrontational with the Opposition MPs including Mr. Gandhi lauding the efforts of the MEA officials under adverse circumstances. The Opposition MPs also endorsed India’s stand in the United Nations agreeing with the government that India has to prioritise its interest and cannot take any step to antagonise Russia that has extended strategic help on various multi-national forums including the United Nations. At the same time, it cannot jeopardise its partnership with the U.S.
Mr. Gandhi, according to sources, wanted to know whether the Indian government expects China to take a cue from Russia and step-up aggression against India. To this Mr. Jaishankar said: “India is no Ukraine”. Mr. Gandhi also asked if the ongoing conflict will change Russia’s position with China viz-a-viz India. To this Mr. Jaishankar said that Russia knows how to value its relations with India.
However, there were several questions from the Opposition MPs on the perceived delay in beginning the evacuation process. The members asked questions on comparison between the timeline of advisories issued by the Indian government as opposed to the other countries. They also sought to know the rescue measures being taken especially for the students in the Eastern sector and the possibility of a humanitarian corridor to pull the students out from the Ukraine-Russia border.
Also read | A testing vote: On India’s UNSC stand on Ukraine
“The MEA told us that there were many factors dictating the students’ prolonged stay in Ukraine. For one, the universities under the Ukrainian government orders had not shut down the classes. The students were also influenced by aggressive “no-war” propaganda of the Ukrainian government,” another member who attended the meeting said.
On this issue, Mr. Sharma cited the promptness shown by the External Affairs Ministry officials. He cited an example from Wednesday night when he phoned Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla at 1 a.m. to flag the condition of a student who had approached him. Mr. Shringla he said, reverted by 1:22 a.m. The Ministry officials, he said, have been responsive during the whole episode.
Mr. Tharoor was the first speaker at the meeting. According to the sources, he enquired on what, as per the Indian government’s assessment, is the end-game for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Will Mr. Putin be satisfied by a mere change of regime replacing the present Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky with a more pro-Russian head or does he want just a consolidation of a buffer zone east of the Nepa river with a Russian conclave? Or will it be a repeat of the 1962 Indo-China war, where China declared a ceasefire after the hostilities?
The External Affairs Ministry did not have a comprehensive reply to the question. “From what we understand through the briefing that the Indian government is equally clueless and is adopting a wait and watch approach,” one of the members present at the meeting said.
