PM Modi facilitated return of Indian students from Ukraine: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi facilitated the return of 22,500 stranded Indian students from Ukraine after speaking with leaders of Russia, Ukraine and the US, which no other world leader could do.

Addressing an election rally in western Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, the veteran BJP leader also lauded Modi for transforming India's reputation on the global stage since becoming prime minister in 2014.

"India has become a powerful country. The world did not take India seriously... But our PM Modi has done a miracle. Today when India speaks on the international stage, the whole world listens carefully. This is India's reputation which has grown rapidly," Singh said.

Referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has been continuing for the last two years, the defence minister said, "Around 25,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine. Their parents demanded from our prime minister that the children must be brought back... Every parent in India was worried."

"What no other prime minister in the world could do, our PM did that. He called up Russia's President Putin and Ukraine's President Zelenskyy. Not just that, he even spoke to President Biden of the US, which is considered the most powerful nation.

"Brothers and sisters, you should be proud that the war stopped for four-and-a-half hours and over 22,500 Indian children came back from Ukraine. This is India," he said.

Modi has resolved that India would no longer be counted among poor countries and by 2047, it can become the world's largest economy, Singh said

"You might have read in newspapers that there was a perception about India being a poor and weak nation. This was a worldwide perception. But the miracle that Modi has done in nine years, you would be proud that 25 crore have been lifted out of poverty," he said.

The Union minister said sometimes the BJP's opponents question the government's claims on poverty statistics, but they should check the data of NITI Ayog and international financial firms about the changes brought about in the last nine years.

Noting India's role in providing Covid-19 vaccines around the world, he said the heads of all countries acknowledge that the 21st century belongs to Bharat.

Singh was addressing a rally in support of the BJP's Ghaziabad Lok Sabha candidate Atul Garg. Singh had won the Lok Sabha poll from this seat in 2009 but shifted to Lucknow in 2014.

Ghaziabad goes to polls on April 26 in the second phase of the elections and has over 2.9 million registered voters.