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If not Columbia, Punjab certainly is an Example for Gujarat

The mistreatment of the “illegal migrants” by the U.S. administration is being debated, and also condemned. However, what is more shocking is that the sufferings of the Indians did not end even after arriving in their home country

Friday February 7, 2025 11:33 AM, Aleem Faizee

[Harrowing Scene: These young kids must have expected someone to embrace and cuddle them at Ahmedabad Airport, but they were wrong. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)]

The first batch of 104 Indian migrants, whom the United States claimed were illegally living in the country and hence deported, arrived in Amritsar Wednesday and 33 of them were later flown to Ahmedabad Thursday February 06, 2025.

“Handcuffed, Shackled”

A U.S. Airforce plane carrying the Indian migrants departed from San Antonio, Texas around 03:00 am IST Tuesday and landed in Amritsar in Punjab Wednesday morning.

It has now been confirmed that they were shackled and handcuffed, and bundled and thrown like boxes in the U.S. military plane which has only one toilet.

Talking to News 18, Jaspal Singh, one of the 104 deportees, detailed how their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey that lasted around 24 hours and they were unshackled only after landing at the Amritsar airport.

Jaspal, who hails from Hardorwal village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and had migrated to U.S. only few months ago borrowing a huge amount of money, also shared in details the inhuman conditions they went through.

Harvinder Singh, another deportee said, “For 40 hours, we were handcuffed, our feet tied with chains and we were not allowed to move an inch from our seats. It was worse than hell.”

The mistreatment of the “illegal migrants” by the U.S. administration is being debated, and also condemned.

However, what is more shocking is that the sufferings of the Indian migrants did not end even after arriving in their home country.

Harrowing scene at Ahmedabad Airport

Of the 104 Indians who were deported from the U.S., 33 - including women and children, were from Gujarat. After landing in Amritsar, Punjab Wednesday, they were flown to Ahmedabad the next day.

To their dismay, there were no one from the Gujarat government to receive them and offer support when they arrived at the Ahmedabad Airport Thursday.

There were heavy security deployment and the scene at the airport was so chaotic as if some “criminals” were being brought in.

["Aliens" in the United States, unwanted back home.]

Video footage and images showed the Gujaratis deported from the U.S. leaving the airport with their faces covered, feeling ashamed, running from the media crew and whisked away by the state police.

The most shocking scene was watching two masked kids coming out of the airport with their parents, visibly uncomfortable and shaken.

What's the fault of these young kids?

They were not in the United States where they and their parents were declared “aliens”.

They were in India and Modi’s Gujarat.

There should have been someone to embrace and cuddle these tender kids and provide them comfort.

Someone must have been there to reassure them that they and their parents are now in their homeland, and everything should be fine soon.

But, NO.

The government in Gujarat, Modi’s Gujarat, did not bother to reach out to its citizens - men, women and children, who had gone through HELL.

Congress leader and MP, Manish Tewari, wondered, “I have failed to understand how the Govt at the level of the PM and the Foreign Minister have allowed such inhumane treatment of Indian citizens."

The treatment of the deportees by the Gujarat government explains this. The "aliens" in the United States are "unwanted" in their home state too.

In a clear indication of what awaited these deportees back home, the supporters of the ruling dispensation had declared them “criminals” hours before their arrival in the country.

“They have shamed India”, they had pronounced.

How to treat citizens - Columbia lesson

Today, they must be feeling that Columbia would have been a much better place than Modi’s Gujarat to have born.

Yes. Columbia where President Gustavo Petro refused to allow the American military aircraft which carried the local migrants to the country, handcuffed and shackled, to land on its soil.

"The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I disallow the entry of US planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory”, Petro said.

Petro then sent special aircraft to bring back the Columbian nationals. And, he himself went to airport to receive them. No.. Not over the tarmac. But right inside the plane to welcome his countrymen.

[Columbian President Gustavo Petro sent special plane and personally welcomed the deportees back home (Image posted on X by Gustavo Petro)]

“They are Colombians. They are free and dignified, and they are in their homeland where they are loved.”

“The migrant is not a criminal. He is a human being who wants to work and progress, to live life”, Petro said on the arrival of the Columbian migrants deported from U.S.

Punjab outsmarts Gujarat in humility

If Gujarat found it difficult to learn from Columbia, it should have taken a cue from Punjab and the humility shown to deportees a day before.

The American military first arrived at Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport in Amritsar with the deportees. Along with 33 Gujaratis, the plane also had some 30 deportees from Punjab.

But, unlike the Gujaratis, these deportees were not hiding their faces.

Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal met a few illegal immigrants who were deported today at Amritsar Airport from the US on a C-17 military aircraft. The minister assured them that the Punjab government will help them in every possible way. @KuldeepSinghAAP pic.twitter.com/QFDtrw6AM6

— Gagandeep Singh (@Gagan4344) February 5, 2025

These deportees were also not left alone to mend for themselves. Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal reached out to them and assured them all help and support for their rehabilitation.

“The Punjab government will help them in every possible way”, he told the deportees.

With the Punjab government behind them, the deportees also garnered courage to talk to media to share their ordeal.

[Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal met the deportees and assured them all help.]

However, the deportees from Gujarat were "bundled and whisked away", this time by Gujarat Police, and sent to their homes.

Though not handcuffed and shackled, but under the clutches of the government. The government whose hallmark is arrogance, and to expect any kind of humility from such a regime is too much to hope for.

[The writer, Aleem Faizee, is Founder Editor ummid.com. He can be reached at aleem.faizee@gmail.com)]

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