Proudly holding the national flag high, a team of 11 Indian students rescued from the war-torn Ukraine reached the Tirupati International Airport on Friday afternoon.
As part of the ‘Operation Ganga’, the team, comprising Chandrasekhar, Faheem Akram, Sai Rohith, Jaswanth, Munisekhar Reddy, Pallikonda Mouli, Grandhe Sandeep, Nuthalapati Umesh, Tenali Sai Chandu, Mohammad Abubakar Siddiq, and Mohammad Bushra Thabassum, arrived after a visibly tiresome journey.
BJP State spokesperson G. Bhanuprakash Reddy and State secretaries Kola Anand Kumar and Samanchi Srinivas received them by offering roses at the airport lobby.
Speaking to the media, the students recalled how the tricolour had helped them as a protective shield and instilling in them a sense of confidence.
“Wherever we were stranded, we got the ‘go ahead’ on seeing the Indian flag we were carrying with us,” a student explained.
Mr. Bhanuprakash Reddy called it a “happy moment” for the medical students from the region, and attributed their safe return to the diplomatic efforts of the Central government.
‘Rescue students from Belarus’
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament (Tirupati) M. Gurumoorthy wrote a letter to Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, explaining the panic among the parents of the students stranded in Belarus.
“Of the 250 students from the two Telugu States held up in Belarus, 180 are from Tirupati constituency, who are under grave threat as the war seems to escalate,” he wrote in the letter.
Dr. Gurumoorthy pointed to the U.S. consulate’s advisory to its citizens to vacate Belarus as an indication to the mounting tension, and urged the Minister to initiate steps for evacuation of the students as soon as possible.
