Bhopal: Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said it was wrong to deport illegal immigrants from America to India in shackles.
The minister of state for social justice and empowerment remarked during a press conference where he shared the details of the Union Budget and said the country is on the path of development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
About the treatment of undocumented immigrants who were deported from the US to India earlier this week, Athawale said it was wrong to send them in shackles. A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Some of the deportees claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and they were unshackled only after landing in Amritsar. “The US government should have avoided such treatment,” said Athawale, who heads the Republican Party Of India (A), adding that the issue would be discussed during the PM’s visit to the US next week.
The Union minister said that under the leadership of PM Modi, the country is moving on the path of development and the target is to make it a developed nation by 2047. He said more than Rs 6 lakh crore has been allocated to the defence sector in this year’s General Budget.
Railways have been allocated Rs 2.52 lakh crore in the Budget for 2025-26, he said. Under the Special Component Plan of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Rs 1.68 lakh crore has been earmarked in this year’s budget, he said.
The Centre has made income up to Rs 12 lakh tax-free which has provided huge relief to the common people, he said. India on Friday said it has registered concerns with the US over the deportation of illegal immigrants in shackles and conveyed that this kind of treatment could have been avoided.
