The Congress continued to mount pressure on the Narendra Modi government to step up efforts to evacuate Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, attacking the Prime Minister’s obsession with electioneering even at such a time.

Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said: “While our children, hungry and without shelter, are living in fear as missiles rain on Ukraine, the Prime Minister is seeking pleasure in electioneering. Why is the life of Indian students in peril, Modiji?”

Modi is stationed in Varanasi, which will vote in the last phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Rahul Gandhi asked the government to spell out its plan. “To avert further tragedy, the Government of India must share: 1. How many students have been evacuated 2. How many are still stranded in Ukraine 3. Region-wise detailed evacuation plan. We owe a clear strategy & communication to the families involved,” the Congress leader tweeted.

The Congress raised a Twitter storm, posting messages and videos, and appealed to the people to build pressure on the government.

A video posted by the party said: “While it is painful that thousands of Indian students are caught in the war zone without any assistance or basic amenities, more painful is the government’s insensitivity and shameful obsession with elections. People should speak up and ensure that no government in future plays with the lives of children.”

While some Congress leaders slammed the government for its desperation to extract credit for running the evacuation operation and accused it of working like an event management company, others argued that the Prime Minister was directly responsible because he had defined the priorities by focusing on the election campaign.

Party spokesperson Ragini Nayak said Modi spoke on everything in his Mann Ki Baat broadcast but chose not to assure the stranded students at the right time.

An impression was being created that an Indian government had undertaken such an evacuation operation for the first time, the Opposition party alleged. The Prime Minister himself said at a public rally at Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh: “It’s because of India’s rising power that we are able to evacuate citizens from Ukraine.”

Former information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said: “Every government has ensured safety of Indians, doing everything they could do in their power to bring Indian citizens back. It is the duty of the government. They are not doing any favour. It is their job. The government of India has to protect the life of every Indian.”

Referring to a video in which Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya addresses Indians who have been brought back from Ukraine on a plane at Delhi airport and telling them about Modi’s “efforts”, Tewari tweeted: “Beyond Pathetic. The braggadocio by these NDA/BJP ministers.... Every Indian Government from First Gulf War-1990 onwards has done pretty much the same in every crisis & even before.”

While the Prime Minister described Operation Ganga as a symbol of India’s rising power, the biggest drive to evacuate Indians was carried out in 1990 during the Gulf War when 1.7 lakh people were airlifted.