- Sunday, March 09, 2025
The deportees claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and they were unshackled only after landing at the Amritsar airport
By: India Weekly
SEVERAL opposition MPs on Thursday slammed the government for the way Indians staying illegally in the United States were deported, questioning the treatment meted out to them.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar on Wednesday (5), the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump government as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
The deportees claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and they were unshackled only after landing at the Amritsar airport.
Of them, 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.
Nineteen women and 13 minors, including a four-year-old boy and two girls aged five and seven, were among the deportees, sources said.
Opposition parliamentarians, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, protested the treatment meted out to the Indians by US authorities by staging a demonstration in Parliament complex.
Some of the opposition leaders protested while wearing handcuffs.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were both adjourned till noon after MPs from the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool, the Aam Aadmi Party, and the Communist Party of India all served adjournment notices under Rule 267, which requires the House to set aside scheduled business.
All these notices were rejected, provoking furious reactions from the opposition MPs, many of whom stood in their seats and shouted out their protests.
In the charged, verbal stand-off that followed, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chair Harivansh Narayan Singh struck MPs’ remarks from the record.
In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla tried to pacify the protesting MPs by pointing out the way the deportees had been transported was a matter of US foreign policy.
“The foreign country also has its own rules and regulations…” he said before adjourning the House.
Amid attacks by the opposition, union minister Chirag Paswan said the government will put forth its views at an appropriate time.
“It is a policy decision and it should not be politicised by the opposition,” he said.
Hitting out at the government, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said the way Indians were brought back shows the “weakness” of the government.
“The way women were treated and brought back handcuffed like criminals … we will not tolerate the insult to the country,” he told reporters in Parliament complex.
He alleged that for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his personal image is more important than the standing of the country.
“It is a black day … the prime minister is silent,” he said.
Another Congress leader K C Venugopal wondered why diplomatic relations between India and the US were not coming handy to avert such situations.
“We have moved a notice for an adjournment on this issue in Parliament,” the Lok Sabha member said.
Former Union minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the US has a legal right to deport people living there illegally.
But we are protesting the way they were sent back. He suggested a civilian aircraft could have been used for the purpose.
TMC’s Kirti Azad also questioned the way Indians were sent back, describing the incident as “painful”.
First-person accounts
Jaspal Singh, who was among 104 deportees brought in a US aircraft, claimed that they were handcuffed and legs were chained throughout the journey.
Singh, 36, who hails from Hardorwal village in Gurdaspur district, said he was captured by the US Border Patrol after he crossed the US border on January 24.
Another deportee Harwinder Singh (40) from Hoshiarpur, told Indian Express that they were not allowed to “move an inch from our seats”.
“After repeated requests, we were allowed to drag ourselves to the washroom. The crew would open the door of the lavatory and shove us in,” he added.
Harwinder said that they forced them to eat with handcuffs on. “Our requests to the security personnel to remove the cuffs for a few minutes fell on deaf ears. The journey was not only physically painful, but also mentally exhausting…,” he said.
At Amritsar, the deportees were questioned inside the airport terminal building by different government agencies, including the Punjab Police, and various state and central intelligence agencies to check if they have any criminal record.
The US action came just days before prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington to hold wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump. (Agencies)
