Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally requested the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha to serve the Indians who were caught in the Ukrainian crisis, the outfit has said in a press statement. The organisation came in media focus when some of the students of Kerala and Tamil Nadu alleged upon return that the Indian authorities had displayed discriminatory attitude during the transit through Poland where BAPS was in charge of providing humanitarian support.
"Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally called BAPS Saint Brahmaviharidas Swami around midnight of Sunday the 27th February, summoning assistance from the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha in supporting the safe passage of Indian nationals on the Polish, Romanian and Hungarian borders with Ukraine as BAPS has presence and decades of experience in emergency response and disaster relief work, globally," said the organisation.
In widely circulated interviews given by students from Tamil Nadu, it was alleged that they were not attended to on time and that the officials and the volunteers of the BAPS did not follow due process while dealing with students from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Congress MP Manickam Tagore has said that during an hour of emergency or crisis, it is not unusual to seek help from a religious organisation to provide relief to the affected people but government officials should see to it that students should not be subjected to any kind of discrimination.
"In times of crisis, a temple or mosque or a church related organisation can come forward to help and the government may consider it depending on the nature of the emergency or the crisis. But students should not be made to feel that they are discriminated on any grounds during such a process," said Manickam Tagore. Apart from BAPS, the International Society For Krishna Consciousness is also active in Europe to help the evacuees.
The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to respond to the allegations made by the students who have returned home after a traumatic period in Ukraine.
