EAM Jaishankar To Address Parliament At 2 PM On Deportation Of Indians From US

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to deliver a statement in the Lok Sabha at around 2 PM regarding the deportation of 104 Indians who had illegally entered the United States.

The Union Minister also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, amid uproar in Parliament over what has been described as the "inhuman" deportation of these individuals.

As soon as the House convened, opposition members, primarily Congress MPs, stood up to raise the issue.

Speaker Om Birla attempted to calm the protesting members, assuring them that the government was taking their concerns seriously.

"The issue is serious. It is a matter of foreign policy. The government has taken it seriously. The foreign country also has its own rules and regulations. You can raise your issues at 12 noon and allow the Question Hour to run smoothly," he stated.

However, the protesting MPs ignored the Speaker's appeal and continued their demonstrations, prompting Birla to adjourn proceedings until 12 noon.

On Wednesday, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar, marking the first such batch of deportees under the Donald Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.

Of these individuals, 33 each are from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.

One deportee from Punjab recounted the harrowing ordeal of using the 'dunki route' to reach the US.

"We crossed 17-18 hills, and if anyone slipped, there was no chance they would survive. We saw many people injured and left to die. There were dead bodies along the way," he said. The journey included a 15-hour boat ride, and they were forced to walk 40-45 km. Along the way, their clothing, worth Rs 30,000-35,000, was stolen.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor commented that the deportation of illegal Indian immigrants by US President Donald Trump is "not the first" and "won't be the last."

"Two or three things have been forgotten by the public. This is not the first deportation and won't be the last. Even before Trump came, during the Biden administration in the last fiscal year which ended in September, there were already 1,100 illegal Indians sent back from America. The Americans estimate that 7,25,000 undocumented Indians are eligible for deportation. In the last four years, they have arrested around two lakh Indians from the Mexico and Canada borders," he told news agency ANI.

"If they are citizens of India, we have an obligation to take them back, there is no debate about it. We have to take them back," he added.