Opposition parties Thursday forced repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha over the deportation of 104 illegal Indians immigrants from the US, even as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted India was engaging the Trump administration to ensure that deportees were not mistreated during flights.
With Opposition members storming the Well of the House and raising slogans over handcuffing of those deported from the US, the Lok Sabha was adjourned on four occasions. A US military aircraft landed at the Amritsar airport Wednesday with the first batch of Indians to be deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Amid noisy protests from the Opposition, Jaishankar read a statement in the Lok Sabha. The Lok Sabha was scheduled to take up a discussion on the Union Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.
Several Opposition leaders, including the Congress’s Deputy Leader in the LS Gaurav Gogoi, had submitted notices to move an adjournment motion over the “mistreatment” of deportees from the US. Lok Sabha was first adjourned during Question Hour and later at 12 noon when the presiding officer allowed the tabling of parliamentary papers.
BJP member Dilip Saikia, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings until 2 pm. Similar scenes were witnessed when the House reconvened, leading to an adjournment until 3.30 pm.
Amid sloganeering, Union MoS for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal informed the Lok Sabha that Jaishankar would make a statement on the deportations at 3.30 pm, raising expectation that the proceedings would resume after the External Affairs Minister’s statement.
Jaishankar underlined that the “use of restraints” was as per the US’s standard operating procedure, and Delhi was engaging with Washington DC to ensure that deportees were not ill-treated. He also pointed out that the “process of deportation was not new”.
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LS Speaker Om Birla adjourned the proceedings for the day as the Opposition protests continued after Jaishankar’s statement.
Earlier in the day, Opposition leaders, including Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the RS Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the LS Rahul Gandhi, Congress Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party chief and MP Akhilesh Yadav, and those from the Left parties, protested in the Parliament House complex against the treatment meted out to the Indians by US authorities.
Some Opposition leaders protested wearing handcuffs. Carrying placards that read “Humans. Not prisoners”, the Opposition leaders raised slogans such as “Indians insulted. India won’t stay silent” against the government. “We, the INDIA parties, shall not tolerate the humiliation of Indian nationals,” they said.
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