Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s remarks over the Centre choosing Amritsar as the landing site for Indian deportees from the United States has triggered a major controversy, with the Bharatiya Janata Party saying that the Aam Aadmi Party leader is “degrading his own state”.
Mann drew severe ire from the BJP and even some other opposition leaders.
The Punjab chief minister asked the external affairs ministry about the “criteria” based on which Amritsar was selected to land the US military aircraft carrying the deported Indian immigrants from America. “You select Amritsar to defame Punjab…So, at the same time when PM Modi and (US President) Trump were meeting, they (US officials) must have been putting shackles on our people. Is this the gift Trump has given?” Mann asked during a press conference.
BJP vs Mann
Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party immediately hit back at the Punjab chief minister, advising him to “avoid doing politics on such sensitive issues”. BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal said that the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party leaders “do not care about the security of the country. They only do politics…”
Citing that travel agents looted the youth of Punjab, prompting them to sell their lands to go to America, BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that these agents sent them to the US by illegal routes.
He further slammed the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government and the state police of taking money from the travel agents, despite knowing about their acts. “How could such travel agents flourish? They made thousands of people jobless…AAP should think about how they destroyed Punjab. They said that people would leave everything (in the US) and return to Punjab, but they are selling their lands to leave Punjab and AAP is still creating a drama,” Sirsa added.
Fatehjung Singh Bajwa, vice president of the saffron party’s Punjab unit, said that CM Mann was “degrading his own state”.
He noted how majority of the persons, 67, who will be returning in the second batch of deported Indian immigrants are from Punjab and how politicising this matter would only damage the state’s reputation.
Bajwa also asked as to what action has Mann taken against those who sent these people through illegal immigration. Resounding Sirsa’s remarks, the Punjab BJP vice president said, “They are taking huge sums of money and sending the children to other countries. Immigration is the biggest industry in Punjab. What action has been taken against illegal immigration centres?… This issue should not be politicised. The families of Punjab are already under pressure… Nothing was done when they were leaving and now the CM is making it political.”
He slammed the AAP-led Punjab government for its lack of actions over employment, saying that these immigrants went to the US due to unemployment. “No industry is entering or investing in Punjab… The CM should rehabilitate them by offering them loans for opening startups,” Bajwa added.
BJP’s national spokesperson RP Singh asked Mann as to why he has not told people that most of the deportees are from Punjab, slamming his government for not taking action against those mediums who facilitate their illegal migration to begin with.
Jaiveer Shergill, another national spokesperson of the saffron party, told news agency ANI that CM Mann has “no right to ask questions but today he has to give answers”.
Shergill said that Mann should tell as to why the youths of Punjab were leaving the state. “Is it because AAP has miserably failed to generate employment…What has Bhagwant Mann done to crack down on these fraud agents who are misleading the youth of Punjab looting the youth of Punjab?” he asked.
He added that the Punjab chief minister should focus on restoring the state’s glory instead of creating unnecessary controversies and sensationalising the issue.
BJP’s state general secretary Anil Sarin also condemned the way Mann spoke about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Notably, some Congress leaders also criticised Mann for his remarks. Party MP Gurjit Singh Aujla said the Punjab CM’s statement was “merely to create headlines. It was all meaningless”.
“The flight should have been landed in Delhi… Punjab is not getting defamed in any way. Punjab has a lot of NRIs, and they contribute to our economy in a big way,” Aujla added. He said that Indians immigrating to Europe and UAE in large numbers “shows the condition of our country”, adding that the BJP and AAP government should look into it.
(with ANI inputs)
