India failed to draw up plan well in advance to evacuate its citizens from Afghanistan: Yechury

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday accused the Centre of failing to draw up a plan well in advance to evacuate Indians from Afghanistan before the Taliban gained control over the country.

"The government should have planned the evacuation much earlier before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, as the air space was totally closed down after it," he told reporters here. Demanding that the government provide proper information about the steps taken to ensure the safety of Indians , he said many countries had evacuated their citizens earlier, anticipating what was going to happen in another 10 days.

India on Tuesday brought back home the Indian ambassador and its staff at the embassy in Kabul in a military transport aircraft in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital, two days after its takeover by the Taliban. Yechury, here to address the two-day Party State Committee meeting, alleged that India was seen as a 'subordinate ally' of the United States, "which should not have gone to that country."

Also read: India evacuates 170 people from Afghanistan, including ambassador

On the Pegasus snooping issue, he said the Centre's response in the Supreme Court was a 'clear admission that it has used the spyware. The Supreme Court on Monday said it cannot compel the 'reluctant' Centre to file a detailed affidavit on pleas seeking information if Pegasus spyware was used to snoop on certain citizens and steps it took to probe the allegations amid vehement claims that there was 'nothing to hide " and it will set up a panel to examine all aspects related to the issue.

Yechury also flayed the Centre's move to observe August 14 as 'Partition Horrors Remembrance Day' and asked the Government to focus on strengthening the Constitution further, as the country had adopted a secular and democratic Constitution (after partition. The CPI(M) would organise nation-wide protests along with Opposition parties next month on various demands, including effectively controlling the pandemic, he said.

Yechury also demanded that the Centre withdraw the duty hike on petroleum products.