DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday kept up his attack on the Centre over the landing of US planes carrying illegal Indian immigrants at Amritsar airport and asked it not to make the holy city a "deport centre".

A second US flight carrying 119 illegal Indian immigrants is slated to land in Amritsar on Saturday night. On February 5, a US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian deportees landed at Amritsar airport. The chief minister visited the airport in Amritsar on Saturday and said his government has made arrangements to take the residents of Punjab from among the second batch of deportees to their hometowns.

"Our vehicles are ready to take them to their places," Mann said, adding they have also offered to take deportees from Haryana to their hometown. Notably, the Haryana government has already made arrangements to take deportees hailing from the state to their homes.

The deportees who hail from other states will head to Delhi from Amritsar in a flight on Sunday morning and then they will be taken to their respective places, Mann said. He also informed reporters that arrangements have been made to provide meals to the deportees.

According to official sources, the second deportation flight from the US is expected to land at Amritsar airport around 10 pm on Saturday.

Talking to reporters at the airport, Mann continued his attack on the Centre and said, "Do not make our holy city (Amritsar) a deport centre." There are many airbases in the country and the flight can be landed at any one of them, the Punjab chief minister said.

He said Amritsar is known for the Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir, Ram Tirath temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Gobindgarh Fort. "Will they allow landing (of deportation flights) at Vatican City, if they (deportees) hail from there?" Mann posed.

Asked whether the second batch of deportees will be in shackles, Mann said they do not have any information on whether they are handcuffed and chained.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have taken up the issue with US President Donald Trump and should have told him that India would send its own plane to bring them back, the chief minister said.

Other countries are sending their own planes to bring back deportees, he noted.

In response to a question, Mann said he is in touch with the Centre. "I still say divert it (this flight). They can land the plane at Hindon or Delhi airport," he said.

Mann claimed that landing the military aircraft of a country like the US at a civil airport in the border state is wrong and could pose a danger to the country's security. "But why was Amritsar chosen?" he asked rhetorically.

Replying to a question about BJP leader R P Singh's post on X that Amritsar is the closest international airport for flights entering India from the US, Mann said if it is so, then why does the Centre not start international flights to the US from the Amritsar airport, which has been the state government's demand.

Is it even logical that Amritsar is the closest airport, he asked.

Asked whether his government will offer jobs to deportees, the Punjab chief minister said, "We will first see why they went there. Which agents lured them and how much money they took? We will try to get their (deportees) money recovered."

"Whatever work they can do, we will give them opportunities. If they can pass a competitive exam for a job, then it can be given," he said.

"The Centre should not defame Punjab or Punjabis or vent out their anger on Punjabis just because they do not make the BJP win elections in the state," Mann said.

"Now, how will the BJP seek votes from people in the next elections? In every village, they will face these deportees. When (PM Narendra) Modi was hugging Trump, that very same time the US was sending a plane carrying the immigrants," he said.

The BJP may try doing anything, but they are not going to come to power in Punjab, the chief minister said.

"Modi said India will accept the deportees. But they have to be accepted in a respectful manner. They (Centre) should have sent their planes to the US to bring them (illegal immigrants) back," Mann asserted.

Among the second batch of 119 Indians being deported from the US as part of the Donald Trump administration's promised crackdown on illegal migration, 100 are from Punjab and Haryana alone.

While 67 are from Punjab, 33 are from Haryana, eight from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Goa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

On Friday, Mann questioned the decision to land another plane at the Amritsar airport and accused the Centre of trying to defame Punjab as part of a conspiracy.

"The BJP-led Centre always discriminates against Punjab. It does not let go of any chance of defaming the state," Mann had said "As part of a conspiracy, they are trying to defame Punjab and Punjabis." Mann also asked the Centre under which criteria the Amritsar airport was chosen to land the second aircraft.

"What is the criterion for choosing Amritsar? The Centre and the Ministry of External Affairs should tell me. Why did you choose Amritsar and not the national capital? You did this to defame Punjab and Punjabis," Mann had alleged.

Noting that deportation is a national issue, Mann said it is being made to appear that only Punjabis migrate illegally.

(editor@dailyworld.in)