MEA Says – They Were Very Proactive During 1990 Evacuation. Airlift Movie Is Short On Facts

While ‘Airlift’ is definitely gaining a lot of popularity for its plot that revolves around Kuwait evacuation in 1990, some points were highlighted by the Ministry of External Affairs, that were missed out in the movie. Vikas Swarup, the MEA spokesperson used Twitter for calling the film a ‘great entertainment but rather short on facts’.
He added that often, films are seen taking liberties with actual facts. Artistic liberties have been taken by this film for depicting events as they actually happened in 1990 in Kuwait. Swarup stated that those aware with the evacuation in 1990 would also be aware of the proactive role played by the MEA.

He stated that official delegation was sent to Kuwait and Baghdad and there was tremendous co-ordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, government departments as well as Air India. Swarup added that he can vouch for this as he was on the front-line to evacuate Indians from Kuwait who came via Syria to Turkey.
The film portrays MEA as lacking proactive approach. Swarup stated that those who didn’t remember the evacuation of 1990 will definitely remember recent evacuations from Ukraine, Yemen, Libya and Iraq that MEA had coordinated.
He hopes that the film proves to be an inspiration to the people for reading about actual events and MEA’s proactive role in safeguarding the security, concerns and interest of Indian citizens living and working abroad. He pointed out that selection of such a theme for the film shows its importance.
To conclude, he stated that MEA considers protection of Indian citizens living abroad as utmost important and they would be proving the same in the future too. Watch out this video to See Vikas Swarup’s comments on this: