Sharad Pawar urged EAM to expedite evacuation of students stranded on Ukraine-Poland border: NCP

NCP chief Sharad Pawar spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and requested him to make extra efforts to bring back Indian students stranded along the Ukraine-Poland border at the earliest.

Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and requested him to make extra efforts to bring back Indian students stranded along the Ukraine-Poland border at the earliest, a party spokesperson said on Monday. Maharashtra NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase also said that Russia and Ukraine were engaged in an intense war and thousands of Indian students were stranded along the Ukraine-Poland border. "Pawar has spoken to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar jiHe has requested the Centre to make extra efforts to bring back Indian students back home at the earliest," Tapase said. Earlier in the day, the Centre decided to send four Union ministers to the countries neighbouring Ukraine to facilitate the smooth and safe evaluation of Indian nationals.

VK Singh will coordinate the evacuation efforts in Poland, Kiren Rijiju will be in Slovakia, Hardeep Singh Puri in Hungary and Jyotiraditya Scindia will look after evacuation efforts from Romania and Moldova. Speaking on the controversy over Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's remarks about Samarth Ramdas being the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Tapase said the NCP would have felt happy had Koshyari read the warrior king's history before commenting. Tapase said Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was "not even remotely related" to Samarth Ramdas and charged Koshyari with making "a feeble attempt" to establish a relationship between the two.

"He (Ramdas) was not the guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It was Jijamata who was the only guru of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. We would have been happy had the governor read this history earlier," he said. Koshyari, during a programme held in Aurangabad on Sunday, underlined the role of the guru (teacher) while citing the examples of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chandragupta Maurya. "Many chakravartis (emperors), maharajas took birth on this land. But who would have asked about Chandragupta had there not been Chanakya? Who would have asked about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had there not been Samarth (Ramdas)," he had said.

"I am not questioning the calibre of Chandragupta and Shivaji Maharaj. Like a mother who plays a key role in shaping her child. Similarly, the role of guru (teacher) has a big place in our society," the governor said. Speaking on the arrest of NCP leader and state minister Nawab Malik by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, Tapase said the former was "framed" in an old case. "Malik is being defamed because he is a strong voice of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (in Maharashtra). It is an attempt to muzzle his voice," Tapase claimed.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had last Wednesday accused Malik of indulging in land dealings with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case accused and said its proceeds were used for terror funding in India. Referring to the remarks of the former chief minister, Tapase said, "Fadnavis has used a new word 'terror funding'. There is nothing like that. But this word has been used to muzzle the voice of Malik". When asked about the Pune Police registering an FIR against former city police chief Rashmi Shukla in connection with the alleged illegal tapping of phones of select politicians between 2015 and 2019, Tapase wondered whether the erstwhile government (read BJP) pressured the IPS officer to snoop on politicians.

Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil had on Saturday claimed that phones of political leaders including state Congress chief Nana Patole, Bachchu Kadu, former MLA Ashish Deshmukh, former MP Sanjay Kakade and others were tapped. "The NCP is asking how come phones were tapped when there was no permission? Were the phones tapped on someone's instruction? Did the previous government pressurise Rashmi Shukla to tap phones?" he questioned.

PTI