The entire opposition in India is up in arms against the government over the handcuffing of undocumented/ illegal immigrants who were deported from the United States on Tuesday and landed in India on Wednesday. The opposition is targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the actions of the Trump administration in the US.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Modi recently said in the parliament while replying during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s lecture that for the first time in the last 11 years there was no foreign instigation to disrupt the house.
It happened just a few days later when the US deported 104 Indians. The provocation for the opposition protest is that the “illegal” Indian immigrants were reportedly handcuffed while being put on a military plane in Texas.
Also read: Jaishankar defends US deportation SOP as oppn stages handcuff protest
The Congress has even asked why the government of India did not send a “special plane” to bring them back, without realising its implications that it can imply that the government of India was encouraging illegal emigration.
While initially the reports of handcuffing were denied, later the US army reportedly confirmed the handcuffing and even put a video on multiple social media handles. The US purpose was obvious to make the anti-illegal migration measures look stricter and stringent, bordering being harsh and ruthless.
Handcuffing is the most inhuman act. Moreover, those handcuffed were being deported and were already in the custody and under the control of the US security agencies. There was hardly any scope of any of them running away. Also, the deportees were not any criminals, not to speak of the hardened ones, that they need to be handcuffed. Their only crime was chasing an elusive dream for a “better life”.
The US is within its own right to deport all the illegal immigrants and that has nothing to do with President Trump’s friendship with Prime Minister Modi. Personal relationships have no impact on diplomatic relations. For that matter Russian President Vladimir Putin is also believed to be a great friend of Trump. Still the two countries have quite hostile diplomatic relations.
However, it is not for the first time that an accused was handcuffed in the US. Devyani Khobragade, a diplomat, while posted in the US, was accused of visa fraud and mistreating her maid, whom she had taken to the US from India. She was also handcuffed and body searched. The government of India at that time had lodged a strong protest with the US government.
In the current case, those deported from the US and handcuffed had been detained at the Mexico border while trying to cross illegally into the US. Compare the reaction to the intrusion bids by the border security of any country. Which country lets in any intruder and does not take any action. Respecting the national sensitivity, it is understandable that any fellow countryman handcuffed does not make a pleasant visual. At the same time, it is also a fact that they had broken the US law by trying to enter that country in an illegal way.
It will also not be fair to draw any comparison with the intruders trying to intrude into India and how the Border Security Force people deal with them. Because those trying to intrude into India, particularly from hostile countries like Pakistan have entirely different intentions than those nabbed at the Mexico border.
The protests against the government of India by the opposition parties in the parliament are not justified. Rather the opposition parties should extend their support to the government in dealing with the issue. It is a national issue. Indian nationals have been deported from the US and not anyone belonging to a particular political party. It is a national issue and not a partisan issue and must be dealt with rising above the partisan rhetoric. The opposition will have no dearth of issues in cornering the government.
The issue of concern should be as why do Indians need to feel so desperate that they take illegal routes to enter the United States. And all those deported have spent between Rs 20 to Rs 50 lakh, chasing an elusive dream, to reach the US-Mexico border to end up in the custody of the US Border security personnel and eventually get deported back. And most of these people are from affluent and well to do states - 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat and 30 from Punjab. And affording or managing Rs 20 to Rs 50 lakh is beyond the scope of ordinary people.
This much money can help people start rewarding business back home. But what prompts them to take such huge risks, knowing well that they will be entering the US illegally, even if they manage to enter and what a bleak future holds for them in that country. Despite that everyone seems to be prepared to take that risk. The harsh memories of a Gujarat family dying in snow while trying to crossover to the US illegally are too fresh. Even that family was doing economically well back home in Gujarat.
It is this issue, which must be dealt with urgency as why do people in India feel like leaving the country. Even the well-to-do businessmen have started opting for “business visas/ residencies” in foreign countries while spending huge money. It is Indian money that goes to the foreign countries along with the people. Of course such people, who go with huge moneybags, are always welcome in those countries they chose to live in, including the United States.
The issue is more serious than mere handcuffing. There is a sense of dissatisfaction and disillusionment prevailing among people, a lot of whom feel that given a chance they would prefer to emigrate, for, what they say, “a better life”. How better or how worse, can be is anybody’s guess.
Follow us
