NEW DELHI: Following Azerbaijan's open support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, an online campaign against the country saw the cancellation of travel there by thousands of Indians.
However, several Indian students in Azerbaijan, most of whom pursue their studies in medicine, say there is absolutely no animosity on their campuses in the aftermath of the #boycottAzerbaijan campaign. The friendships forged with students from Pakistan in the campus too remain the same despite the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan.
A total of 320 Indian students are presently pursuing their MBBS course in the internationally-recognised Azerbaijan Medical University (AMU), located in the capital Baku. Students from UAE, Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan too study at AMU. Additionally, there are eight Indian students pursuing Navigation Engineering at Azerbaijan State Marine Academy.
This reporter spoke to a few Indian students in the backdrop of the tensions between the two countries. While the maximum students are from Kerala, a good number are from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. A few are from North India too.
Mohammed Kalendar, a native of Mangaluru, who is pursuing his third-year MBBS degree said, “The atmosphere is all good here. All the students are aware of everything happening thanks to the online world but we have no issues among ourselves. In fact, we have a Baku Sports Group with 106 Asian students on its WhatsApp group. The Pakistani students love to play cricket and keep asking us to play with them. The Sri Lankan students too join in our games. In fact, even tomorrow (Sunday) a match is being played with participation of students from India and Pakistan.”
Sanjula Selavaraj, a first-year MBBS student and a Coimbatore-native, said, “In the present situation, nothing has changed for us. The locals do not show any hostility to us. We all share a good bond as students. In fact, I have good friends who hail from Pakistan in the next class and the relationship continues despite the hostility between the country and India.”
Sajas Khan, a third-year Navigation Engineering student, hails from Kozhikode. “We are all safe and happy here despite whatever is going on outside. I landed in this country quite unexpectedly. I was pursuing studies in Ukraine and due to the Ukraine-Russia war, many of us students had to return to India in 2022. Our agent then ensured we got a transfer to Azerbaijan to complete the course.”
S Rakesh Kumar, proprietor of the Coimbatore-based education consultancy, Get Direction Global, which is the institution’s sole representative in India, said, “Unlike other countries in the world, Azerbaijan has a unique policy. All medical students can get their degree only at the government-run Azerbaijan Medical University which falls under the Ministry of Health. A maximum of only 60 students from India are taken annually though there is a huge demand. NEET scores are taken into consideration for admission. “The annual fee for the course, which works out to roughly Rs 6.5 lakh, is much cheaper than that being charged at private colleges in India,” he added.
When asked for his response, a top official in the Indian Embassy in Azerbaijan asked this reporter to mail the queries to the Embassy. Three days later, no one has responded. Repeated calls and messages in this connection to the official too went unanswered.
