LIVE | Modi slams Congress in Rajya Sabha speech, no word on deportees

"The President's speech was inspirational, effective and showed the way forward to us all," Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his speech in Rajya Sabha on Thursday (February 6) while replying to the Motion of Thanks debate on the President's speech.

In his 90-minute speech, he slammed the Congress's "appeasement politics", reminded the House how the Emergency crushed the spirit of the Constitution, how the "licence raj" during the Congress regime kept the country backward, and also took pot shots at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge over his poem recitations in the House to highlight how the country had got a viable alternative after 2014.

"This model is not focused on appeasement, but on satisfaction," he said.

Modi, however, did not utter a word about the deportation of 104 Indian citizens from the US in inhuman conditions. The Opposition's protest over the issue brought forth four adjournments in the Lok Sabha earlier in the day, with the final one being for the day.

Jaishankar's statement

The final adjournment came shortly after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statement on the issue. He told both Houses of the Parliament — first the Rajya Sabha and then the Lok Sabha — that the government was engaging with the US to ensure that deported Indians were not mistreated and underlined that the focus should be on strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry.

The foreign minister’s statement in Parliament came a day after a US military aircraft dropped 104 illegal Indian immigrants in Amritsar, over which an uproar erupted in Parliament on Thursday regarding the manner in which the deportees were treated by the Americans — handcuffed and their legs shacked.

India engaging with US govt: EAM

Jaishankar started by saying that it is the fundamental responsibility for all nations to take back their citizens who are found to be living illegally abroad.

“We are of course engaging the US government to ensure the returning deportees are not mistreated in any manner during the flight,” Jaishankar said. “At the same time, the House will appreciate that our focus should be on strong crackdown on the illegal migration industry, while taking steps to ease visas for the legitimate travellers,” he said.

Also read: 33 Gujarati immigrants deported from US land in Ahmedabad

The minister stated that the process of deportation is not a new one. “The standard operating procedure for deportation by aircraft provides for the use of restraints. However, we have been informed that women and children are not restrained,” he said.

“Further need of deportees during transit related to food and other necessities, including possible medical emergencies, are attended to. During toilet breaks deportees are temporarily unrestrained if needed. This is applicable to chartered civilian aircraft as well as military aircraft,” he said.

“There has been no change from past procedures for the flight undertaken by the US on February 5, 2025,” he added.

Opposition protests

On Thursday morning, Opposition MPs protested over the “inhuman” deportations and sought a discussion in Parliament. Several MPs, including Amritsar MP Gurujit Singh Aujla, were seen joining the protest sporting handcuffs on their hands. Lok Sabha was adjourned thrice over the issue, until Jaishankar addressed the Upper House at 2 pm and then the Lower House at 3.30 pm.

The 104 illegal Indian immigrants who landed in Amritsar are expected to be the first batch of deportees from the US as the Donald Trump government cracked down on illegal immigrants. Of them, 33 each were from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, three each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and two from Chandigarh.

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