New Delhi, Apr. 3: Defence Minister of India Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi facilitated the return of 22,500 stranded Indian students from Ukraine after speaking with the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and the United States, which no other world leader could do.

Launching his Lok Sabha poll campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Ghaziabad in western Uttar Pradesh, Singh 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 Prime Minister Modi has done a miracle. Today, when India speaks on the international stage, the entire world listens to it carefully. This is India’s reputation, which has grown rapidly,” he said. 

Referring to the Russia- Ukraine conflict that is going on for two years, the defence minister said, “Around 25,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine. Their parents demanded from the 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 prime minister did that. He called up Russia’s President (Vladimir) Putin and Ukraine’s President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy.

Not just that, he even spoke to President (Joe) 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 more than 22,500 Indian children came back from Ukraine. This is India,” Singh 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, he said.

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

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

Taking note of 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 Lok Sabha poll candidate from Ghaziabad, Atul Garg. Singh had won the Lok Sabha poll from this seat in 2009 but shifted to Lucknow in 2014.

Ghaziabad, which has more than 29 lakh voters, goes to polls on April 26.

The BJP veteran also hit out at the INDIA opposition bloc and its constituents. He said some leaders and ministers are going to jail on allegations of corruption but are claiming that Modi is doing it due to political vendetta.

“Government agencies are doing their work but I want to ask you whether corruption should stop or not. If somebody feels that they are being targeted and oppressed without any proof, why don’t they move the court? “They can go to the lower court, the high court or even the Supreme Court, but they are not getting any reprieve from courts because we have confirmed evidence of corruption against them,” Singh said.

“The workers of the Congress and other political parties should understand that their governments have been accused of corruption in the past also but 10 years have gone by and there has not been a single allegation of corruption against our government,” he said.

Singh also mentioned how India’s defence exports have increased over the last 10 years, a grand Ram temple was built in Ayodhya and how the life of people improved with the government’s welfare initiatives, such as Ayushman Bharat, housing and toilet, direct benefit transfer, free ration etc.-Agencies