'Stalin Sent Us Here': Twitter Has A Field Day Mocking Tamil Nadu CM's Offer To Send State Team To Europe For Evacuation

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday (3 March) wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar offering to send a team of officials from the state to countries bordering Ukraine to coordinate the safe evacuation of students belonging to the state.

Stalin requested the External Affairs Minister to "increase the number of Tamil students to be evacuated from Ukraine".

While the Tamil Nadu CM's demand to "increase the number of Tamil students" was ridiculed by serious observers, Twitter users had a field day mocking his offer to send a team from the state to coordinate the evacuation of Indian students from war-torn Ukraine.

"If the Russian and the Ukrainians find out that the CM of Tamilnadu is named “Stalin”, I doubt they’ll ever let the Tamil students leave the war zone," said Dinesh Arora (@aroradinesh72).

"Funny to see 'Stalin' asking Indian gov to evacuate students from Ukraine," said a Boston-based Twitter user with the handle @joysamcyborg.

"Modi govt should hv sent Stalin alone . He has the capability to rescue all 20000 Indian students as his name is Stalin n Russia Ukrain knows Stalin better than anyone else (sic)," said a user named Bargarh Sambalpuri.

Twitter users wondered how eastern European countries, all of which saw killing and bloodshed when Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union, would react to the development.

"Imagine the reaction in Europe when they say 'Stalin sent us!'," said Twitter user Devi Prasad Rao (@DeviPrasadRao8).

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin shares his name with one of Europe's most brutal dictators Joseph Stalin, the premier of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. Millions of Soviet citizens were either killed or died as a result of Stalin's policies during that period.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had to face embarrassment during one of his visits to Russia in the late 1980s.

"As soon as I landed at a Russian airport, I was asked to mention my name. When I said 'Stalin' many people at the airport started looking at me," Stalin told the Times of India a few years back.

"While checking my passport, officials asked me several questions before I was allowed," he said, recalling the embarrassment he had to face during his 1989 trip. "Many people in Russia didn't like Joseph Stalin," he added.

Over the years, multiple accounts have revealed that M K Stalin's father, former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi, had deliberately named his son after the Soviet communist dictator Joseph Stalin.