Former president Ram Nath Kovind delivers the 5th Rajaram Jaipuria Memorial Lecture at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: India set an example for the world by evacuating its students from Ukraine and it could happen after Prime Minister Narendra Modi negotiated with both Russia and Ukraine for a 24-hour ceasefire, former president Ram Nath Kovind said on Saturday.
Delivering the fifth Dr Rajaram Jaipuria Memorial Lecture here, the former president said India is on the path of being a "vishwaguru" or global leader and called upon the youth to contribute to it.
He also gave several examples of how India proved itself to be a global leader, including the recent Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam for giving reservation to women in legislature.
Talking about the Russia-Ukraine war, the former president said everyone expected it to be over in a month or two, which is why several Indian students got stuck in the war-struck Ukraine.
"When six-eight months passed, the situation became such that it was difficult to survive. The concern of parents of the students was acknowledged by the government. I am deliberately giving this example, I was in Rashtrapati Bhawan at that time," Kovind said.
"I asked why so many Indian students go to Ukraine. I was told medical education is cheap there. Our students got stuck, if something would have happened to them, the government would have been held responsible. Though it was not the government's responsibility, parents sent them there, but the government would have been blamed," he added.
Asserting "our government set an example", Kovind said they played the role of a global leader and talked to both nations, Russia and Ukraine, to have a ceasefire for 24 hours.
"Both are big nations. Would they have agreed if any other country would have intervened? No," he said.
"Our prime minister talked to both Russia and Ukraine, and thank god both agreed. For 24 hours, war was paused," Kovind claimed.
He also said the students from other countries like the US, Pakistan and China were also stuck, but their governments could not evacuate them.
"Their leaders were also told to follow the example of India, but they refused. They told the parents you did not ask us before sending the students...," he said.
"This is global leadership and India is being recognised as a global leader as of today," he said.
Kovind also said that the idea of Vishwaguru does not mean there will be a global government headed by India.
"There used to be a concept of universal government - it is not that India will become the head of state and there would be a world capital in India. Countries will remain the same, but our recognition of global leadership will take us to the top," he said.
Kovind said the Indian government has taken a lot of steps to empower the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and women.
"The Mahila Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is a progressive law... When the US got independence, women did not have voting rights for a long time. In India, the day we adopted the Constitution, we recognised women's right to vote," he said.
Mentioning UPI payments as a major achievement, Kovind pointed out that 46 per cent of global UPI transactions happen in India.
"Digital payments are not at this scale anywhere in the world," he said.
Kovind said the value of Indian rupee is increasing and now the rupee can be used as currency in at least 10 countries.
"We can expect soon the Indian rupee will have acceptance like dollar and pound," he said.
Kovind mentioned India's achievements in the space sector and pointed out that India is the first country to land on the South Pole of the Moon, and also mentioned the Mars mission.
He said India also provides launching pad to many other countries to launch their satellites.
The former president called the elections held in India yet another example of global leadership, as many countries remain in awe of how polls are conducted at such a large scale.
"There were 97 crore registered voters in recent elections... Managing the election is a mammoth task," he said.
Talking about India's history, Kovind said it had one-fourth of the global GDP at the beginning of the 19th century, and if there was no "looting" by invaders, including British colonialism, India would probably have been on the top of global economies today.
The former president urged the youth to join the endeavour to make India a developed country by 2047.