Chennai: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday welcomed the Indian fishermen who arrived in Chennai after being repatriated from Iran via Armenia, following a significant diplomatic effort by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Speaking to reporters, Piyush Goyal described the return as a "Joyous day" for the families of the fishermen, who had been stranded in Iran amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
"Today is a joyous day where our brothers and sisters who are suffering in Iran are coming back home to their families, motherland. We warmly welcome all our fishermen brothers and sisters... It was a difficult journey for them. They had to go 20 hours to Armenia and other countries," Goyal said.
"The MEA Officials worked day and night to bring them to Armenia. Today they are flying back from Armenia. We are very happy to receive them, welcome them back home," he added.
On MK Stalin's recent statement on imposing Hindi in the state, Goyal further claimed that Chief Minister MK Stalin has "lost" the upcoming Assembly elections and is resorting to "false allegations" out of desperation.
"I think Stalin has lost this election. He has already given up on these elections. That is why he makes false allegations. The people of Tamil Nadu know that no one is trying to impose Hindi on them. We want more and more children to learn Tamil. The third language is optional; whatever they want to learn. There is no compulsion to learn any particular language," the Minister stated.
Goyal's remarks follow a heated exchange between CM MK Stalin and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday over the National Education Policy (NEP) and the alleged withholding of funds for Tamil Nadu's refusal to adopt the three-language formula.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday expressed gratitude towards Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan for facilitating the evacuation of Indian fishermen from Iran amid the conflict in West Asia.
"Thank FM Ararat Mirzoyan and the Government of Armenia for facilitating the evacuation of Indian fishermen today from Iran, through Armenia to India," Jaishankar wrote on X.Armenia has been facilitating the evacuation of Indian nationals in Iran.
On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that more than 1,200 Indian nationals have been safely evacuated from Iran, out of which 996 moved to Armenia.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and auto-generated from an agency feed.)
