Amid deportation row, Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla says govt should introspect why youngsters are moving abroad

Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla said that the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are blaming the past governments. Instead, they should introspect as to why these people are forced to go abroad

A day after Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann slammed the Centre over the decision to land the US deportees’ flight in Amritsar, Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla said on Saturday that instead of blaming others, the CM should find a solution to the problem.

Member of Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla addresses a press conference in Amritsar on Saturday. (Sameer Sehgal/HT)

Addressing a press conference, the Amritsar MP said, “People who went abroad after investing lakhs of rupees and are now having to return. Their rehabilitation should be talked about, they should be given employment so that they can work for their own and country’s progress,” he said.

The MP further said that the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are blaming the past governments. Instead, they should introspect as to why these people are forced to go abroad. “Now, the power is in their hands. They should work to ensure that youngsters don’t have to go abroad in search of work,” he said.

Aujla further asked PM Narendra Modi to send a chartered plane to the US to bring Indians back in a respectful manner.

Tewari backs CM on deportation row

Chandigarh: Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday supported the Punjab CM’s remarks on the arrival of the second flight of US deportees in Amritsar.

Tewari said the Centre could have landed the plane anywhere in the country but chose Amritsar to “humiliate Punjab”.

“Why are these planes landing in Punjab? What is the kind of message you’re trying to send? Are you trying to send a message that every illegal immigrant to the US is from Punjab? The Punjab CM is absolutely correct to that extent. There were people from Gujarat and Haryana. You could have landed this plane in Delhi or anywhere else. Why in Amritsar all the time?” he said.

“Delhi does not understand that Punjab does not take very easily to humiliation and there is always a cost to pay when Delhi tries to humiliate Punjab,” Tewari added.

Conspiracy against Punjab, says Ranike

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former state minister Gulzar Singh Ranike also targeted the Centre, stating that it was a conspiracy to defame Punjab. “It is the misfortune of Punjab that central governments have always tried to defame Punjab. We are a border state, especially the district of Amritsar. We have been demanding that international flights should be started from Amritsar, but the Centre does not permit it. But now foreign planes coming in are landed in Amritsar to defame us,” Ranike said.