On Thursday, India launched Operation Sankat Mochan, a mission to rescue over 500 Indians stranded in South Sudan, a country witnessing heavy fighting between government soldiers and rebels.

Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) VK Singh is said to be leading the operation. Earlier this morning, the official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs tweeted this:

The social media savvy minister also tweeted:

“Sankat Mochan” trended on Twitter this morning for a good three hours. On social media, it is being hailed as another superhuman rescue in the making, after Operation Raahat last year, which was also commanded by Gen (Retd) Singh. The optics are perfectly in place – a retired Army Chief leading a daring rescue mission, to rescue stranded Indians from a strife-torn nation. It is a perfect opportunity for the government to win some accolades.

There is of course the tiny detail that the government and the minister are just doing their jobs. This is what is expected of them under the circumstances and they certainly aren’t the first to do so.

In 2011, Operation Safe Homecoming saw 15,400 Indian nationals being rescued from Libya.Forty-seven air charter sorties were carried out. Earlier, in 2006, in one of the largest evacuations by sea, the Indian Navy had rescued Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepalese nationals during the Lebanon War. Back in 1990, the rescue of 176,000 Indians, from Kuwait was recognised as the largest air evacuation in history (and even inspired Airlift, a hit film starring Akshay Kumar).

Operation Sankat Mochan, though, doesn’t need a star. It’s already got Gen (Retd) VK Singh.