Beyond deportation

Planeloads of illegal immigrants are coming to India from the US, and it doesn’t really matter how many of them belong to which state. They are all Indians, and their deportation is an embarrassment for the whole nation, not just their respective states. The political blame game over their plight is just a diversionary tactic. Successive Central and state governments failed them so badly that they put their lives on the line to reach the US. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Washington that India would take back any verified Indian illegal migrant in America — New Delhi doesn’t have much choice anyway — and also crack down on human traffickers who exploited vulnerable people. Insisting that he wanted to go beyond repatriation, the PM called for a joint fight against the menace. Such collaboration, however, should not be confined to India and the US. It must involve the Union as well as state governments, besides civil society and the people at large, as they are all key stakeholders.

In Punjab, it’s a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. Over the past 15 years, the state has been ruled, in turn, by the Akali-BJP alliance, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. Passing the buck will not solve the lingering problem, which needs to be confronted unitedly, prioritising the state’s long-term interests.

It’s unfortunate that deportees continue to be shackled even after India flagged their unacceptable treatment with the US authorities. The fact that all flights with deportees are landing in Amritsar is another troubling issue. But these matters should not be allowed to obscure the larger picture. A major challenge for governments from here on is to persuade those who have returned to stay on rather than embark on another misadventure — and also to dissuade others from choosing a perilous course in a desperate pursuit of their American dream.