Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of Punjab, has expressed disapproval of the government’s strategy for expelling undocumented Indian immigrants from the US. “Handcuffed deportees as a gift?” he questioned sarcastically, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is returning to India from America after meeting US President Donald Trump.
Mann expressed his severe disapproval of Amritsar being selected as the landing site for the second group of deportees and threatened to stage a demonstration.
Mann was cited as stating, “They are saying that the second flight will also land in Amritsar, but why? I have reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs [MEA] and the Ministry of Home Affairs [MHA] to explain their criteria for choosing Amritsar as the place where the deportees’ flights are to land”.
He continued, adding that he would personally meet the deportees at the airport, “I am going to protest strongly against this move of the Union government. I have requested MEA and the MHA authorities to change the route of the US military plane and take it wherever they want, whether to Ahmedabad, Delhi or Hindon, as it will stop at three or four places for refueling”.
Today, 120 deportees arrived in Amritsar. On February 16, 157 more Indians would be deported in a separate aircraft.
The term “aliens,” which the United States uses legally to refer to foreign nationals, is being applied to the deportees.
According to Mann, US officials were handcuffing and shackling the next round of deportees when Modi and Trump spoke on the morning of February 14, Indian time. He questioned whether this was the Indian government’s foreign strategy and expressed shock at the state of affairs.
He criticized the Modi government’s justification for selecting Amritsar as the landing location, citing the fact that Punjab accounted for 67 of the 119 or 120 deportees. He asked why neither Ahmedabad nor Ambala had received the deportees from Gujarat and Haryana on the previous aircraft.
He drew attention to the paradox that while Rafale planes are routed to Ambala upon landing, they must land in Punjab when deportees are involved.
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