Union Minister of State for Defense Ajay Bhatt on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ensuring that all Indian citizens are safely brought back to the country from war-torn Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban.
The Minister said that the evacuation process shall continue till all the citizens as well as "victims" are successfully brought back from Afghanistan.
As many as 78 people, including children, arrived from Afghanistan on Tuesday late at night. The evacuees reached Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport on Monday night in an Indian Air Force flight. On Monday, 146 passengers landed in Delhi from Afghanistan.
India has been allowed to operate two flights per day from Kabul to evacuate its nationals stranded in Afghanistan, government sources told ANI. The permission was granted by American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces, which have been controlling operations of the Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban on August 15.
"Not only this, but we also helped the citizens of our neighbouring countries to return to their country when the COVID-19 pandemic had struck, irrespective of caste, religion, class, area etc," said Bhatt while speaking to ANI.
"Those who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) must now be able to understand how important the law is, looking at the situation in Afghanistan. In countries that have not yet implemented such a law, people are losing their lives. We heartily congratulate the Prime Minister and thank him for enacting the law," he added.
Responding to a question on the arrest of Union Minister Narayan Rane in Maharashtra, Bhatt said, "This is the culmination of the politics of vendetta. Nothing can be more extreme than this. The government is not able to change its attitude of rivalry which is sad."
Rane was detained on Monday in Ratnagiri and handed over to Mahad Police, for his alleged derogatory remark against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. However, he was granted bail by the Magistrate Court in Mahad in the Raigad district of Maharashtra hours after his arrest over his remarks. The court has ordered the Union Minister to be present at the Ratnagiri police station for inquiry on August 31 and September 13.
Answering a question on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Bhatt said that he has left no stone unturned in crossing his limits and bringing down the dignity of opposition. Taking a jibe at the Congress MP, Bhatt stated that nobody takes him seriously and his statements are a "laughing stock".
He further accused the Opposition of making false and misleading statements in an attempt to tarnish the image of the government.
"It is said the more you heat gold, the brighter it becomes. Similarly, the image of the government is getting stronger among the masses," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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