The second batch of illegal Indian immigrants deported from the US will land at Amritsar Airport on Saturday night. As per the information received, two US flights will land at Amritsar Airport carrying illegal Indian immigrants. One of these planes will land at Amritsar airport at around 10:15 pm today (15 February), while the second plane will land here on 16 February. On Feb 5, the US military aircraft that landed at Amritsar Airport carried most of the deportees from Haryana and Gujarat, this time, it has been reported that most of the deportees are from Punjab.
However, the question that has sparked a political uproar in India is why the American aircraft are only landing at Amritsar Airport and not in other states. As mentioned above despite maximum number of deportees were from Haryana and Gujarat, the US military aircraft landed at Amritsar Airport. Again, the US flights will be landing at Amritsar Airport and this has sparked a major uproar
'Why Amritsar and not Ambala or Ahmedabad?' asks Punjab CM Mann from Centre
Addressing the media on Friday, Punjab CM Mann said, "There is a conspiracy to defame Punjab and Punjabis... The first plane landed in Amritsar... Now, a second plane (carrying Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the US) will land in Amritsar... The MEA should tell the criteria based on which Amritsar was selected to land the aircraft. You select Amritsar to defame Punjab... At the time when PM Modi and (US President) Trump were meeting, they (US authorities) must have been putting shackles on our people."
"Is this the gift Trump has given?... America's military planes are landing in Amritsar, and an enemy country, Pakistan, is right next to it. Lahore is 40 km from there... What kind of foreign policy is this?... Sheikh Hasina landed in Hindon. Ghaziabad. Why can these (Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the US) be landed in Hindon? They should be landed in the National Capital; we will bring our people from there," added Punjab CM.
"... Amritsar is being chosen deliberately to portray that only Punjabis are illegal migrants... Why is Ahmedabad or Ambala not chosen?... BJP always conspires to defame Punjab... They don't let international flights operate from Amritsar, claiming that it is not suitable for it, so why are flights coming in from the US now?... I will strictly oppose this... I demand to the MEA and the MHA that the plane is still onboard, change the route and make it land in Delhi, Hindon or Ahmedabad...," concluded Punjab CM.
For the unversed, 119 people will be brought on the US plane today. These include 67 people from Punjab and 33 from Haryana. At the same time, 157 Indians will be brought in the second plane. Punjab CM Mann is in Amritsar and most probably he will address the issue of deportees from the US.
'Why are these planes landing in Punjab, CM Mann is absolutely correct', says Congress MP Manish Tewari
Congress MP Manish Tewari addressing the media said, "...Why are these planes landing in Punjab? What is the kind of message you're trying to send? Are you trying to send a message that every illegal immigrant to the USA is from Punjab Punjab CM is absolutely correct to that extent. There were people from Gujarat and Haryana. You could have landed this plane in Delhi or anywhere else. Why in Amritsar all the time?...Delhi does not understand that Punjab does not take very easily to humiliation and there is always a cost to pay when Delhi tries to humiliate Punjab."
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, "He is absolutely right. The first aircraft that landed with immigrants who were brought back in inhuman conditions had most of the people from Gujarat. That flight should have landed in Gujarat, but it landed in Amritsar to create an impression that all illegal immigrants are from Punjab and that it is the only state with economic distress... If you are not able to crack down on agents, it is a failure of the government..."
What did the BJP say about the allegations?
Anil Sarin, BJP's state general secretary over the political uproar said, "The people who have been deported and are coming to India, there is no doubt that most of them are from Punjab. In the first plane of about 100 passengers, 33 were from Punjab, and in the plane of 119 coming today, 66 are from Punjab. This is a useless politics being done on where the planes will land. The issue is who sent these people to America illegally. By spending lakhs of rupees, these people pay travel agents to go abroad illegally."
It is pertinent to mention here that factually, only 30 Punjabis were in the first batch of deportees while the most 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat.
BJP National Spokesperson RP Singh in a post on social media platform X, Singh clarified, "Amritsar is the closest international airport for flights entering India from the USA. That’s why the US plane carrying illegal immigrants is landing there."