When India evacuated 1 lakh citizens from Iraq, Kuwait during Gulf war in 1990 | Ukraine Russia War

Around 16,000 Indians were stuck in Ukraine on the day that Russia launched its military invasion. Subsequently, the Indian government launched Operation Ganga to evacuate the stranded Indians. After initially using Air India flights, the Indian Air Force has been pressed into action.

While quite significant, this is far from the biggest evacuation from foreign soil that India is conducting.

The country's largest evacuation operation was conducted during the Gulf War over three decades ago. In 1990, when Iraq attacked Kuwait, the Indian government reportedly brought back over 1 lakh citizens in a little over 2 months.

A coalition government comprising of the BJP, Janata Dal, and Left was in power at the time, and VP Singh was the Prime Minister.

Iraq's invasion of Kuwait began on August 2, 1990, and around 1.7 lakh Indians were reportedly in the region at the time. Around three weeks later, India's external affairs minister at the time, IK Gujral, visited Iraq and met Saddam Hussein to ensure the safe return of Indian citizens.

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The operation reportedly started with military transport aircraft bringing Indians back. However, due to greater difficulty in securing permissions for passage of military aircraft, the Indian government switched to civilian aircraft. State carrier Air India was roped in.

However, a situation similar to the current one emerged where flights couldn't be flown directly to and from Iraq and Kuwait due to airspace closures. Subsequently, all Indian nationals who were to be evacuated were taken to Amman in neighbouring Jordan via buses.

Then over 63 days, 488 Air India flights reportedly brought back over 1 lakh Indians from the war-torn region.

Former Union minister, and ex-BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has cited the operation in what is being seen as a veiled attack on the Modi government. Sinha is currently a Trinamool Congress leader.

While the Modi administration has patted its back for the ongoing evacuation efforts, the Opposition has called the exercise too little, too late.