April 5, 2022
Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s speech in Lok Sabha during the discussion under Rule 193 on the situation in Ukraine
Hon. Chairman, Sir, the subject of today’s discussion is to share our views with the Government of India
and we, the Trinamool Congress, normally intend to extend support to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Government’s decision when it is related with matters of external affairs. We study about the situation. But we are concerned now, at this stage also, about those students who have come back from Ukraine, especially medical students. What would be their future? I would like to inform Jaishankarji that I met the Prime Minister last week. We had a long talk for more than 20 minutes. I was carrying a letter of Kumari Mamta Banerjee, our Chief Minister. In that letter, she has put forward some proposals as to how these medical students can be accommodated here in our country. She wanted to absorb them in our own State. She had given some ideas. But during our talk, the Prime Minister intimated to me straightway that the Government of India has decided to send these students back to Hungary, mainly to Budapest. I asked the Prime Minister: why are you not asking the Russian Federation to take them back and provide them seats in their medical institutions? He told me – though it was a one-onone conversation, but I want to put on record here so that the Minister of External Affairs can make some assessment – ‘I will not talk to Russia regarding those students. But though the cost of education in Hungary is a little more expensive, still my Government is taking some decision and I hope that this problem will be sorted out easily’. So, I want to know where thesituation actually stands now and what would be the fate of these students.
Sir, this Russia-Ukraine War is a continuation of the conflict since 2014. I had the opportunity to visit Minsk, Capital of Belarus, in a delegation along with Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Shrimati Sumitra Mahajan. Our delegation visited
Belarus and Ukraine and that picture floats in my front of my eyes. I also had an opportunity to visit Eastern Europe when many countries were within the control of the Soviet Union. I went there during my young age when I was with the Youth Congress. During that time, I had been to Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and East Berlin. Ultimately, all these sectors were broken up. There was the Gorbachev issue as also the Glasnost issue. These all are all old issues and I do not want to discuss them here. But what I want to mention here is that two agreements were signed in Minsk, Belarus between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. One was signed and broken in 2014. What was there in that agreement? It included exchange of prisoners and delivery of humanitarian aid without heavy weapons. But this agreement quickly broke down in 2014. Again, another agreement was signed in 2018 where France and Germany mediated. But now, from the very beginning, I could not find any big country taking
any initiative. This time, no Force had taken any initiative to hold peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. I am not speaking about our own country. I am saying no one initiated any talks. Ukraine is a Member of NATO. NATO is full of European countries and USA and Canada. But none of these countries took any initiative to stop the war.
There were tragic deaths. The attack on Ukraine by Russia is a disastrous step. The way the war broke out, it was extremely disastrous in nature. It is painful and shocking. There is no doubt, it is heart-breaking. Sir, let me read out a small statement saying how many civilians have died in Ukraine in this war. Nearly, 3,000 civilians have been killed or injured in this war. My report is as of 28th March, 2022. In between, these few days, I do not have much of the latest information. More than 10 million persons have been displaced since Russia invaded Ukraine. Ninety-nine children have been killed and 126 injured. The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion, has reached almost an estimated figure of 63 billion dollars. This is as per the analysis done by the Kyiv School of Economics. It is their own assessment. This information is also as of 28th March, 2022. The latest analysis, as of March 24, 2022, shows that at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories and warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 healthcare institutions, 12 airports, seven thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged. So, all totalling comes up to 63 billion dollars Compared to the previous estimates published on 17th March, the net growth was announced to be 3.5 billion dollars according to KSE. Sir, what I want to mention here is that we became concerned when the war started. We expected that it would be stopped. But it did not. Naturally, a huge number of Indians were living there with huge amount of tensions. India’s responsibility was aimed at evacuating the Indian citizens from Ukraine, and it did so. It was a good step. I appreciate it. We heard the statement of India’s Permanent Representative at the UN Security Council and it was actually a non-committal statement. That was neither in favour of this side nor that side. “The escalation of
tension along the Russia-Ukraine border is a matter of deep concern and the developments have the potential to undermine peace and security of the region”, the India’s permanent representative to the UN, T. S. Tirumurti, said at the UNSC meeting. Sir, the work should be completed and if, on our part, any peaceful step is possible to be taken up, we should try to initiate it because since our early ages, we have seen Indo-Soviet treaty. In different issues whether they are in United Nations or anywhere else, Russia supported us on them. We can initiate dialogues and give leadership to the whole world by saying: “India is fully concerned with the war. This war has pained us. The way, people have lost their lives, it is disastrous, painful and inhumane.” I want to know whether India is in a position to initiate and make it a complete peace-talk. Our next speaker, Sougata Roy, is here. He will also speak on this issue.
So, Sir, I repeat our stand that any stand taken by the Government of India so far as external affairs are concerned, we stand by the Government wholeheartedly
