Indian Deportees Chained: US Deportation Sparks Outrage, Silence from Indian Government | Representational Image
Gone are the days when, as Indians, we had true love for the country and stood up for the nation’s self-respect. We have lost leaders, who would not allow anyone to insult our country, and with such leaders gone, citizens who would tread on their path are also missing.
During the freedom struggle, people, young and old, fought for the freedom and self-respect of the country. Thousands of names come to mind while recalling those who came out on the streets against the British, including Babu Genu, a child, who gave his life in Mumbai for the cause.
All those who made sacrifices, in terms of their lives, family life, or careers, to achieve freedom, must have felt that people in independent India would stand for the glory of the country and its people and at the same time, raise their voices against insults to India and its citizens.
But that is not to be. The case in point is the way illegal migrants were sent back by the United States of America and our silence on it. The US is fully justified in deporting illegal immigrants, but the way they were sent back to India is highly condemnable.
The deportees were handcuffed and chained for 40 hours and put on a defence aircraft, with no seats, making them sit on benches with no access to washrooms. Only when it became unbearable for some were they allowed to use the washroom, but with their handcuffs and chains on.
As if that was not enough, the US posted videos and photographs of the deportees in chains and handcuffs on social media.
Instead of condemning the act, the spineless government, through the Press Information Bureau, denied that the deportees were handcuffed or chained. The PIB also claimed that the photographs/videos being circulated were not of Indian deportees but of detainees in Guatemala! This was quickly denied by the US agencies, who maintained that the photographs were of Indian deportees. Accounts from deported individuals also point out that they were indeed handcuffed and chained during their deportation.
No member of the Union government has condemned the US action of handcuffing and chaining Indians deportees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy washing away his sins in the Sangam at Prayagraj when the plane carrying the deportees landed in Amritsar.
The External Affairs minister, S. Jayshankar, said in the Parliament that what the US did was a normal procedure, in a way justifying the treatment given to the deportees.
The Indian government was aware that the Indians were being deported. The least the government could have done was to send an aircraft to bring back the Indians honourably, the way the BJP-led government under Atal Behari Vajpayee had ‘honourably’ escorted terrorist Masood Azhar to Kandahar.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro had expressed his resistance to an American military aircraft bringing the deportees. Colombia sent its own aircraft to bring the migrants back.
The ‘protest’ by the Opposition in the Parliament was a whimper and probably done to put it on record for posterity to show that it had raised the issue.
There were no protests outside the American consulate anywhere in the country by any political party, be it the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, or any party worth its name. There was a time when, at the slightest provocation, there would be a sea of red flags outside the American consulates, with the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) protesting against what they called American imperialism. But after the demise of A.B. Bardan and Sitaram Yechury, leaders of the two parties, respectively, these parties have gone into hibernation.
It would be inappropriate to expect the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which owes allegiance to the Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party, to protest against the American government, and especially President Donald Trump, the main villain in the story.
But student bodies like the Students’ Federation of India, All India Students’ Federation, Democratic Youth Federation, and the Youth Congress did not organise a single protest against the violation of the basic human rights by the US.
Leaders of all the political parties in the country keep singing laurels of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Chhatrapati Shivai Maharaj, and many others, who have made great contributions to the country. But they do not put into practice the teachings of these great personalities, whose motto was country first. For the current leaders, it is “me first, my party next, and the country last.”
The current leadership at the Centre had banned Chinese apps as a retort to the Chinese aggression. That action did not cause any damage to China. On the contrary, imports from China are on the rise under the present regime.
Modi is, at present, in the US, enjoying the hospitality of his ‘good friend’ Donald Trump. Thousands of Indian Americans must have gathered to welcome him. Instead, they should have organised a protest march seeking an apology from Trump and his administration for the treatment meted out to the deported Indians. All those Indians, put together, have the power to make Donald Trump and Elon Musk come down on their knees. But the Indians in the US will not do that.
When the blood of the youth does not boil over serious issues in their country, the country can be said to be on the path of disaster.
The author is a senior journalist and media trainer. He tweets at @a_mokashi
