Surjewala hits out at Khattar for calling deportees 'criminals'

Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala has condemned Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s statement on deported youth by the US, referring it to be insensitive.

“The statement of BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar justifying the US authorities’ brutal treatment of Indian youth is not just insensitive but deeply inhuman. When our youth, after selling everything to find a dignified life abroad, are forcibly sent back in chains, it is the BJP government’s responsibility to stand for them, and not mock their plight. Instead of defending their rights, BJP leaders are shamelessly endorsing their humiliation,” Surjewala took to ‘X’ to criticise Khattar’s remarks.

Khattar, while interacting with the media on the sideline of a programme organised to campaign for BJP candidate Renu Bala Gupta in Karnal on Sunday, said there should be no sympathy for the deportees as they all went abroad illegally through the ‘dunki’ route. He justified their treatment, saying that every country had its laws and those who entered a country illegally were considered ‘criminals’.

“There is not much room for debate. They are criminals of that country,” said Khattar.

“Are our youth criminals just because they sought a better future? The BJP should remember that these young Indians are not criminals. They are hardworking people who took the risk of leaving their homeland because the BJP government failed to provide them jobs and opportunities here. Referring to them as 'offenders' is an insult to every Indian family that has struggled for survival,” Surjewala said.

He also criticised the Modi government’s silence on the issue, asking, “Where is Modi government’s ‘56-inch chest’ when it comes to protecting Indian dignity? Even a small country like Colombia refused to let its citizens be deported in chains and forced the US to send them back with dignity. Why does America not dare to treat Chinese or Russian citizens this way? Because their governments defend them. Why is the Modi government failing its own people?”