‘Modi government failing to protect honour of Indians,’ alleges Congress

Accusing the Union government of “failing to protect to honour of India”, the Congress on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately talk to United States President Donald Trump to appeal for intervention on the “mistreatment” of Indian students in the country.

This came after photos and videos showing an Indian student being handcuffed and pinned to the floor at the Newark Airport in the United States emerged on social media.

On Monday, the Consulate General of India in New York said it was in touch with local authorities regarding the case.

In a social media post, Congress’s communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh said that “protecting the honour of India and Indians is one of the most important responsibilities of the prime minister of India”.

However, Modi has “not been able to summon the courage” on the “atrocities being perpetrated against Indians in the US”, he added.

“We demand that Prime Minister Modi should talk to President Trump and appeal for intervention in the atrocities happening against Indians and the fear that has gripped lakhs of Indian students in America,” said the Congress leader.

His party colleague, Pawan Khera, shared a video of the student at the Newark Airport, describing it as “too painful, too humiliating and too distressing”.

“As a country, why should we tolerate this humiliation,” asked Khera.

The Indian consulate is yet to confirm if the student in the video has been deported from the US.

The Congress had on June 4 also questioned the prime minister and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for remaining “totally quiet” on Indians being adversely affected by Trump’s action against foreign students.

Ramesh quoted data from the Ministry of External Affairs to note that 3,37,630 Indians were pursuing higher studies in the US in 2024. He also highlighted that roughly a third of international students in the US are from India.

More than 1.1 million international students were enrolled in US universities in the 2023-’24 academic year.

“This means that some three and a half lakh Indian families invested their hard-earned savings or borrowed for the education of their children in the US,” Ramesh said. “These students, plus those who went in earlier years, face an uncertain future. Large numbers of students planning to go in 2025 may never get to see their aspirations fulfilled.”

Ramesh’s remarks came against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s measures against international students through various means, including screening their political views and indefinitely pausing all new student visa interviews on May 28, as it prepares to expand social media screening of applicants.

It was not yet clear what the new procedure to vet the social media of applicants will involve.

On May 29, the Ministry of External Affairs said that 1,080 Indians have been deported from the US since January.

The statement came amid the tightening of immigration regulations under the Trump administration. In some cases, the US government had used military aircraft to repatriate undocumented migrants.

The Opposition had criticised the Indian government after videos showed the Indian deportees on US military aircraft having been shackled. But External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had told the Rajya Sabha in February that the persons had been shackled in keeping with past procedure.

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