A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA has courted controversy after he said that the Indian government’s focus is more on bringing stranded students from Ukraine than the mortal remains of them, who have died. The Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA Arvind Bellad was referring to the body of Naveen Gyangoudar, who lost his life in the war.
Addressing the media, he said, “A coffin would occupy the seats of 8 to 10 students in the plane. Therefore, the priority is on evacuating the medical students stranded in the war-hit nation and bringing them back alive.”
He also said, “It is a war zone. You (the media) are all showing the ground situation on television through your channels. The body will be brought once the flight services become operational.”
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The Indian government has launched ‘Operation Ganga’ to carry out the evacuation of thousands of Indian students, who remain stranded in Ukraine.
Bellad further added that the government has already been struggling to bring back students from the face of war and to bring back Naeevn’s body would delay the process and take up more space in the flights.
Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, a medical student from India, died in Ukraine's Kharkiv city when he went outside his bunker during shelling. The family members have demanded the government to bring back his body and hand it over to the family for the last rites.
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Hitting out at Bellad, Congress spokesperson, Surejwala said, “Drunk with arrogance, power has gone into the head of heartless BJP leaders, particularly from Karnataka. (Union minister) Pralhad Joshi calls children in Ukraine as those ‘who failed NEET’. Arvind Bellad has lost his balance. Insensitivity and cruelty are now BJP’s DNA.”
In a subsequent tweet, he said in Hindi, “Is all the focus from Ukraine to Uttar Pradesh (where assembly polls are being held) only on managing PR and saving image.”
