Opposition members have disrupted an Indian Parliament session by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration’s response to the alleged abuse of 104 of its citizens while they were being deported from the US.
As lawmakers chanted slogans and demanded that the Modi government address the deportation process, which was deemed “degrading,” the proceedings were adjourned on Thursday.
Gaurav Gogoi, a member of the opposition’s Congress Party, wrote in a notice to the lower house of Parliament’s secretary general that the deportation procedure was “degrading” and raised “serious concerns about their human dignity and rights.”
One week prior to the meeting with Modi in Washington, D.C., the deportation occurred. In Trump’s discussions with Modi, a topic of course will also be brought up.
As part of Trump’s plan to deport millions of people, a US military plane carrying undocumented immigrants touched down in Punjab state’s Sikh holy city Amritsar on Wednesday.
The farthest deportation flight ever conducted by military transport, according to USBP chief Michael Banks in a post on X on Wednesday, was the return of illegal aliens by USBP (US Border Patrol) and partners.
“If you cross illegally, you will be removed”, he said in the post, which had a video showing some men being led into a military plane in handcuffs and with their legs in chains.
All immigrants, barring children, were handcuffed during the flight, The Times of , India , and the , Indian Express newspapers reported, quoting unnamed officials in Punjab who said they had spoken to the deportees.
One of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, claimed that deportedees’ handcuffs and leg chains were only removed after arriving in Amritsar, according to a press release from the Press Trust of India news agency.
Singh, 36, claims that they initially believed they were being transported to a different US camp.
He was quoted as saying, “Then a police officer told us that we were being taken to India.”
Before police escorted the deportees out in small groups in police vehicles, they had to spend more time at Amritsar airport looking after they had arrived in India.
On Thursday, some deportees were brought closer to their homes on a regular flight to Ahmedabad, Gujarat state.
India’s foreign minister responds
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the country’s foreign minister, responded by saying that New Delhi is working with the US to prevent mistreatment of undocumented Indian immigrants while they are deported.
According to Jaishankar, the deportation procedure used by the US authorities is not new and allows for restraints on immigrants who are returning to their home countries.
He continued, “Any nations are required to take back their citizens if their lives are discovered to be illegally living abroad.”
Om Birla, the speaker of the parliament, added that “the foreign country also has its own rules and regulations.”
Outside Parliament, opposition lawmakers, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, continued their protest as they demanded a response from Modi’s government. Some of them wore handcuffs and carried placards that read: “Humans, not prisoners”.
Washington used a military aircraft for the first time in the history of the US, despite previous US administrations’ deportations of Indian immigrants.
After verification, India cooperated with the US and indicated that it is ready to accept the deported Indians.
New Delhi claims to oppose undocumented immigration, citing a number of forms of organized crime as well.
According to a representative for the US Embassy in Delhi, enforcement of immigration laws was “crucially important” for the country’s security and public safety.
The spokesperson continued, “It is the United States’ policy to faithfully enforce the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens.”
Source: Aljazeera
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