Modi-Ji Zindabad,” Minister Says To Evacuated Students In IAF Plane

New Delhi: 

A video of the junior Defence Minister giving a short speech, inside an Indian Air Force aircraft, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s contribution to the efforts to bring home Indian students stranded in conflict-hit Ukraine has raised a controversy.

Ajay Bhatt, the Union Minister of State for Defence, had boarded a heavy-lift cargo aircraft of the IAF after it landed at Hindon Air Force Station near Delhi, bringing students from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries.

In a blue jacket and a cap like the one worn by airmen, Mr Bhatt is seen telling the students in the aircraft, “Don’t worry at all. Your lives have been saved by the grace of Modi ji. Everything will be all right. Bharat Mata ki jai…mananiya Modi ji zindabad.”

He then gestures to the students to chant after him, which they do, with fists raised as they chanted “Bharat Mata ki jai“.

When the Union Minister came to the part where he said “mananiya Modi ji zindabad“, the students didn’t respond at first.

Mr Bhatt repeated, “mananiya Modi ji zindabad.”

Only then some of the students also shouted “zindabad” inside the Indian Air Force, or IAF, aircraft.