Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The second American Plane carrying illegal Indian migrants deported from the United States also landing in Amritsar in Punjab has created political storm with the Punjab chief minister accusing the BJP government at the Centre of conspiring to defame Punjab and the Punjabis.
The Congress leaders also called it a “test” of the Narendra Modi government and of the Indian diplomacy. The Congress hoped that the Prime Minister during his recent visit to the US had conveyed to the US president Donald Trump that Indian did not appreciate the US government sending the illegal deportees handcuffed and chained.
The second US plane carrying 119 illegal migrants is expected to land at Amritsar International Airport late on Saturday night. This would be the second group of Indian citizens to be deported from the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump started a crackdown on illegal immigrants. On February 5, a US plane carrying 104 arrested illegal migrants from India in handcuffs and chains, had landed in Amritsar inviting sharp criticism.
Asserting that the manner in which the fresh batch of deportees would be brought would put Indian diplomacy to the test, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member P. Chidambaram on Saturday took to ‘X’ to target the Union government. “All eyes will be on the U.S. aircraft which will land today in Amritsar bringing back illegal immigrants. Will the deportees be handcuffed and their legs tied with ropes? It is a test for Indian diplomacy,” he said in his post.
Another Congress leader Shashi Tharoor expressed hope that the Prime Minister had conveyed to Mr Trump that deporting Indians in shackles in a military aircraft was not right and added the two leaders’ press conference suggested they had a good meeting. Mr Trump hosted Mr Modi for talks at the White House early on Friday during which they discussed bilateral, regional and global issues. “I hope, behind closed doors, he (Modi) said to the Americans, ‘You can’t insult our people. You can send them back, they are illegal, we will look after them, they belong to our country but don’t send them back in shackles and handcuffs on a military aircraft… That is not right’…” Mr Tharoor said.
A U.S. military aircraft brought back 104 Indians living illegally in the U.S. earlier this month — the first such batch of Indians deported by the Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh. Many of these migrants had spent a huge amount of money on promises of legal entry into the US. Instead, they endured gruelling, multi-country treks arranged by human traffickers.
The deportees had claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and that they were unshackled only after landing in Amritsar. Sources said among the 119 second batch of deportees, 67 are from Punjab, 33 from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Another plane carrying more deportees is expected to arrive on Sunday as well and is also landing in Amritsar.
As the Indians landed, many horror stories followed about the manner in which they were transported from the US to India. A video shared by the US Border Patrol also showed the migrants being handcuffed and their legs shackled. As they de-boarded the plane, visuals showed the Indians made to a shuffled walk – something that is commonly associated with hardened criminals.
The manner of these deportations triggered a furious response from the Opposition in India, who questioned why the Centre could not send a plane to bring back its citizens in a “humane manner”. Amid this furore, they have yet again raised questions over how the second batch of Indians would be deported.
The Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann questioned the landing of the aircrafts in Amritsar. He alleged that the BJP-led government at Centre was playing “conspiracy to defame Punjab.” “The BJP government at the Centre leaves no opportunity to defame Punjab and Punjabis. It’s under a conspiracy that the BJP wants to defame Punjab.
“The U.S. government is deporting illegal migrants, and in this chain, the first aircraft arrived in Amritsar. Now, the second aircraft is coming that is also landing in Amritsar. Why? What is the criteria of the Centre government to choose Amritsar? You (Centre) have chosen it only to defame Punjab and Punjabis,” he said in Amritsar. “The BJP-led Centre always discriminates against Punjab. It does not let go of any chance of defaming the state…As part of a conspiracy, they are trying to defame Punjab and Punjabis,” he added.
However, the BJP slammed Mr Mann, accusing him of politicising the issue. “Amritsar is the closest international airport for flights entering India from the USA. That’s why the US plane carrying illegal immigrants is landing there. Stop politicizing the issue and promoting conspiracy theories due to your lack of knowledge,” BJP national spokesperson RP Singh wrote in a post on X.
BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal called out the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, accusing its leaders of “not caring” about the country’s security. “Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should avoid doing politics on such sensitive issues. AAP leaders do not care about the security of the country; they only do politics,” he said.
Reacting to Mr Mann’s accusation, BJP’s Punjab unit vice-president Fatehjung Singh Bajwa said Mr Mann was politicising the issue and degrading his own state. “Instead Mr Mann should tell what action has been taken by his government against those who were involved in sending these people abroad through illegal immigration.
A large number of people, especially youth from Punjab, travel abroad in the hope of a better life. As the migration trend continues to grow, the phenomenon of illegal-irregular migration has also turned to considerable magnitude. The magnitude of irregular migration from Punjab is “substantial”, but there’s hardly any authentic data surrounding irregular migrants in the public domain.
Punjab Police has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the illegal human trafficking and illegal migration after the deportation of 104 migrants from the U.S. The deportations are likely to continue on a bi-weekly basis, with similar flights bringing back Indian nationals in the coming weeks until all undocumented immigrants have returned.
Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had responded to the Opposition’s criticism saying that the deportations by the US were organised and executed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – which provides the use of restraints.
“However, we have been informed by ICE that women and children are not restrained. Further, the needs of deportees including during transit, related to food and other necessities, including possible medical emergencies are attended to. During toilet breaks, deportees are temporarily unrestrained if needed in that regard,” he said.
