Ahead of his maiden visit to Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India was an advocate of permanent peace in the region, as he reaffirmed his view that "this is not an era of war" and any conflict should be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
Addressing an emotionally charged gathering of the Indian community in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday evening, Modi pointed out a paradigm shift in India's foreign policy. "When earlier there was a policy of maintaining distance with other countries, the present policy is that India wants to have friendly relations with all the countries," he further elaborated amidst slogans of "Modi-Modi."
Ahead of his maiden visit to Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that India was an advocate of permanent peace in the region, as he reaffirmed his view that "this is not an era of war" and any conflict should be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
These comments come ahead of his scheduled visit to Kyiv, making him the first Indian prime minister ever to visit Ukraine since it won independence in 1991. Modi is planning to discuss the strategies for peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict with the Ukrainian leader. Invited by President Zelenskyy, Modi is planning to discuss with the Ukrainian leader the strategies for peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict.
Narendra Modi's visit to Kyiv comes almost six weeks since he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, in which both chose to forge a 'Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.'.
During his address to the diaspora in Warsaw, Modi lauded them for their contribution toward furthering India-Poland ties and went on to give them glittering praise for having already turned "Operation Ganga" into a shining success. Operation Ganga was a government of India's humanitarian annealing operation that sought to bring home the country's "stranded" citizens from war-torn Ukraine.
"Today's India wants to connect with all. Today's India talks about the development of all. Today's India is with all and thinks about the interests of all," Modi said.
He also held forth on how India was always the first to extend help during disasters. "Wherever in the world there is an earthquake or any disaster, India has only one mantra - Humanity first," he added.
This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime minister to Poland in the last 45 years. Modi had expressed enthusiasm at the time to meet President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk for enhancing the relationship between India and Poland. He had said that shared values as the "Mother of Democracy" constituted the bedrock for closer relations between the two nations.
The Prime Minister, while seeking cooperation and assurance from the Indian community to promote Indian tourism and to be part of the country's development journey, declared Jamsaheb Memorial Youth Exchange Scheme under which 20 polish youths would come every year in country also remembered how Poland had come to help during the disaster of Gujarat in 2001.
He also spoke about immense progress undertaken by India in the past decade and exuded confidence that India would very soon become the third-largest economy. He shared his vision that India should attain developed nation status—Viksit Bharat—by 2047. He also added that a lot of potential for further growth lies in the growing partnership currently being recorded between Poland and India in new technological domains and green energy, which contributes in a large measure to green growth globally.
The Prime Minister also went on to talk about India's guiding philosophy of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" that is driving its commitment to global well-being, making it a First Responder.
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