Inhuman treatment meted out to deportees: Cong slams Centre

Punjab Congress leaders have criticised the BJP-led NDA government for failing to take up the issue of inhuman treatment meted out to deportees, including Punjabis, while being flown to Amritsar in a US Air Force aircraft.

PPCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, “If Columbia can send its Air Force plane to the US to bring back its citizens being deported, India could have also sent one. It would have ensured the Indian citizens returned in a dignified manner, unlike the way they have reached with handcuffs.”

MP Tewari flays PM, EAM on ‘X’

Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari posted on ‘X’: “I’m anguished at the inhuman treatment that has been meted out to the Indians who have been deported from the USA and brought to Amritsar. They are not criminals; they may have illegally entered the US in search of a better life. If at all they are deported, why do you need to handcuff them, shackle them for hours? This is absolutely inhumane and medieval. I have failed to understand how the government at the level of the PM and the Foreign Minister allowed such inhuman treatment of Indian citizens.”

Blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for defaming Punjabis by allowing the US Air Force plane to land in Amritsar, instead of Gujarat or Haryana, Warring said the BJP used every opportunity to defame Punjabis. “The PM should seek an apology from the US for humiliating Indians. Previously, people have been deported in civilian planes, but this time a wrong narrative has been created,” said the PPCC chief.

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Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, “The deportees have claimed that they were handcuffed for 40 hours. Their feet were tied with chains. They weren’t even allowed to use the washroom. They were unshackled only after landing at the Amritsar airport. They are not hardcore criminals. They are only ordinary citizens, who migrated to the US in an unauthorised manner hoping for a better future. Treating them as hardcore criminals is highly unjustified. I urge External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and the PM to take up the matter with the Trump Administration in the US as to why inhuman treatment was meted out to Indian deportees.”

Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh said to protect the fake Gujarat Model and defame Punjab, the US flight carrying deportees was deliberately landed in Amritsar, Punjab — even though most deportees were from Gujarat and Haryana.