Kashmiri students evacuated by Indian government from conflict-torn Iran under Operation Sindhu, are unhappy that they were not provided flights after arriving in India to return to their homes. Bringing these students back to India was not a cakewalk for the Indian government as the Iranian air space is closed due the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran which has entered its 7th day. They were first brought to Armenia via land border and from there they were flown back to India.
The rescue flight landed in Delhi, where bus services were arranged for the students for their journey back to their homes in Jammu and Kashmir. However, in a sheer display of entitlement and lack of gratitude, some of the Kashmiri students, who were brought back unharmed by Modi government from the middle of an ongoing war between Israel and Iran, began complaining about “poor transport arrangements” from Delhi.
While an ordinary reasonable person stuck in a similar situation would have felt immense gratitude towards the government of their country for bringing him back home safe from a war-torn region, these students were busy complaining about the lack of comfort in the last leg of their journey. There is no war situation in India, if they didn’t like the govt provided transport, they or their families could have easily arranged for their transport from Delhi to their hometown via air, train or road. But they complained about ‘bad transport’ arranged by govt.
Perhaps, this entitlement emanates from the historical legacy of Jammu and Kashmir region, which enjoyed a ‘special status’ for decades prior to the abrogation of Article 370. Their behaviour is reflective of the disdain felt by radical Kashmiris for the rest of Indians that arises from a deep embedded privilege and sense of superiority in their minds. The feeling that the central or the state government owes these students a comfortable and luxurious mode of transport, as per their own standards, to their homes, is rooted in this sense of superiority.
Nonetheless, one wonders what makes the Kashmiri students prefer Iran for higher studies over India which has a gamut of educational institutions, offering specialisations across disciplines.
Why Kashmiri students go to Iran for studying
Even a cursory comparison between the educational institutions of India and Iran can tell that the standard of education in India, across the fields, far exceeds that of Iran. India’s education sector is vast and growing. After the US and the Europe, India is a preferred educational destination among foreign students.
In the latest QS rankings of global educational institutions, three Indian universities of IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay and IIT Madras made it into the top 200 while no Iranian university was named in the top 200. A total of 54 Indian educational institutions made it to the list of QS rankings making India the fourth most represented nation in the list after the US, the UK and China.
And yet these Kashmiri students travel all the way to the Middle East, a perpetually conflict-ridden region, to pursue higher studies. Several reports suggest that these students go to the Shia country to study medicine and engineering. However, considering that Iran has not achieved any major breakthrough in either medicine or engineering in the recent past, it does not seem a plausible reason for attracting Indian students to Iran.
Also, the political environment in Iran has been far from ideal to provide a conducive environment for the development of disciplines like medicine and engineering that require critical and rational approach. Iran’s political regime prioritises imposing regressive and sexist religious regulations like the hijab mandate.
The heavy-handed measures adopted by the Iranian regime to suppress anti-hijab protests, often resulting in deaths of protestors, underscores the troubled political environment in the country. Therefore, while students may claim that they go for studying medicine and engineering, it cannot be denied that religion plays a key role in their decision-making to opt for Iran as their choice of destination to pursue higher studies.
Iran is also a popular tourist destination among Indian Muslims, mostly Shias. The country houses the famous Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, which is a major tourist attraction among Muslims globally. The Shia shrine is one of the largest mosque complexes in the world. It has the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam, who belonged to the lineage of Hazrat Ali and Fatima Zahra – the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed. Around three crore people from all around the world visit his grave every year, with Indian Muslims forming a prominent part of the tourists.
What separates Kashmiri students from students hailing from other Indian states
This is not the first time that India has recsued its citizens from foreign countries affected by regional military conflicts or natural disasters. In 2022, when a war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, India rescued over 20,000 Indian nationals, mostly students, from Ukraine under Operation Ganga. These Indian students were pursuing medical studies in Ukrainian universities and were dispersed throughout the country after evacuating.
On the request of the Indian government, the Russian government worked on halting the war and creating a humanitarian corridor for evacuation. The students hailed from different states of India, including Kerala, UP, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Rajasthan. None of these students complained about “poor transport arrangements” or the lack of comfort in the offered mode of conveyance as they breathed a sigh of relief for being able to return to their home country safe and sound by escaping a war.
What separates the students evacuated from Ukraine from the students evacuated from Iran is the region they came from. While the students rescued from Ukraine were mostly non-Kashmiris, the students evacuated from Iran are mostly Kashmiris. This goes on to show how decades of exceptional, previleged treatment can permanently shape the minds of people and make them feel entitled to the country’s resources without realising their duty to contribute to the country’s growth.