Why are these planes landing in Punjab? Tewari backs CM on deportation row

Chandigarh Congress MP sees bid to defame Punjab as second plane carrying Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the US will land in Amritsar on Saturday night. Of 119 deportees on board, 67 are from Punjab.

Chandigarh Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday supported Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s remarks on the arrival of the second flight in Amritsar carrying Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the US.

On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 deportees had landed in Amritsar. Of them, 33 people each were from Haryana and Gujarat and 30 were from Punjab. (File photo)

Tewari asserted that the central government 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.

Earlier, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said that the second plane carrying Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the US will land in Amritsar on Saturday night. He also questioned the Centre as to why Ahmedabad or any other place was not chosen.

Of the 119 Indian immigrants on board the second plane, 67 are from Punjab.

On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 deportees had landed in Amritsar. Of them, 33 people were from Haryana and Gujarat each and 30 were from Punjab.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former state minister Gulzar Singh Ranike also targeted the Centre and said that landing the planes in the state was a conspiracy to defame the state and to show that Punjabis are only illegal immigrants.

“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. Landing the planes (carrying alleged illegal migrants to the US) here is a conspiracy to defame Punjab and to show that only Punjabis are illegal migrants. The planes can land somewhere else, too. 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.

“Planes can land in Gujarat, Haryana, or any other international airport. People from all states have gone, not just from Punjab. This is a well-planned conspiracy. I request to the MEA and the PM that our planes be sent to bring them back. India should take a stand that their planes should not land in our country. I appeal that planes should be landed in other states too, not just in Punjab,” he added.