Amid a row over the deportation of Indian citizens from the United States, BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Saturday alleged that travel agents in Punjab exploited young Punjabis by sending them to the US through illegal routes.
The BJP leader also accused the Punjab government and police of taking bribes from these agents. "The youth of Punjab sold their land to go to America. Travel agents looted them and sent them by illegal routes. Bhagwant Mann's government and the police kept taking money from the travel agents. 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," said Sirsa while speaking to ANI. Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann came hard on the Centre over the deportation of Indian citizens who allegedly illegally migrated to the United States, and said that Amritsar is being chosen deliberately to portray that only Punjabis are illegal migrants. He also highlighted that Pakistan, an enemy country of India, is very near to Amritsar, posing a threat. He also questioned the Centre as to why Ahmedabad or any other place was not chosen. Further, Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi supported CM Mann's remarks and said that the latter is "absolutely right." "The first aircraft that landed with immigrants who were brought back in inhuman conditions had most of the people from Gujarat. That flight should have landed in Gujarat, but it landed in Amritsar to create an impression that all illegal immigrants are from Punjab and that it is the only state with economic distress... If you are not able to crack down on agents, it is a failure of the government," she said. (ANI)
|