Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday attacked PM Modi over the deportations of Indians from the United States who were allegedly residing in US illegally, and questioned the PM’s assertion of a ‘close relationship’ with US President Donald Trump.
Kharge said about “Traumatic Deportation”, He said, “The deportation of Indian immigrants – handcuffed, legs chained; has naturally raised strong concerns among all Indians. PM Modi must stress that any Indian national must not be humiliated and must be treated with utmost dignity.”
Kharge voiced concerns about the inhumane conduct with the deportees and highlighted that India could have instead sent its own flight to bring them back.
The Congress leader said, “PM Modi has gone to the U.S.; he will speak about it. PM Modi keeps asserting that he can resolve anything because the US is our ally and things would be solved. People come and go, but a nation is permanent.
Instead of thinking in favour of the nation, PM Modi keeps claiming that Trump is his friend. If Trump really listens to PM Modi, then why are they deporting our people?”
He further added, “Instead of deporting them on a regular passenger flight, why were they deported on a goods flight? This means PM Modi’s friend is addressing our people like slaves. We could have sent our flight to bring them back.”
Earlier, Congress leader P. Chidambaram hit out at the central government over the matter and said that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) “crumbled badly” in managing the deportation of Indians from the United States.
He said that the government had details about the planned deportation of Indians and asked if External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had raised the issue of sending Indians, recognised as illegal immigrants by the US, under SoPs when he met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The Congress leader further said that the government had knowledge of the number of Indians to be deported under SoP, with handcuffs and legs tied with ropes.
He asked if the government had offered to send its own plane to bring back Indians and asked, will the government send planes to bring back 483 other Indians identified as illegal immigrants by the US administration?
On February 5, a US Air Force plane carrying Indian citizens who identified as “illegally immigrated” to the US arrived in Amritsar, Punjab. 104 deportees were on board the plane that landed in Amritsar.
Opposition parties hit out at the central government both inside and outside Parliament, calling that the deported Indians were brought in in an “Inhuman Condition” on a US military plane and highlighting that they were “ill-treated and handcuffed.”
