NEW DELHI: Sanjiv Bhatt, a former IPS officer from Gujarat has called the ruling BJP-led NDA ‘a government of unscrupulous bas****’.
He said that for the last four years, the families of the deceased were kept in dark about the status of their loved ones.
The BJP took advantage of the missing Indians saying that they were alive and safe until last month when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told Parliament that 39 of the 40 Indian labourers abducted by ISIS were killed by the terror group in Iraq.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh who brings back the bodies of the deceased Indians from Mosul called them illegal immigrants.
He told reporters at the Amritsar airport that none of the 40 Indians captured by the terror group had gone there through illegal travel agents as they were registered with any embassy in the Middle East.
“I want all the Indians go abroad legally. Besides, they should go safely and with proper training,” he said, reported NDTV.
The minister has been criticized for his insensitive remark when questioned about compensation for the grieving families.
“Yeh biscuit baantne wala kaam nahi hai, ye aadmiyon ki zindagi ka sawal hai, aa gayi baat samajh mein? Main abhi elaan kahan se karoon? Jeb mein koi pitaara thodi rakha hua hai (This is not like distributing biscuits, this is about the lives of the people. Understand! How do I make the announcement now, I am not carrying anything in my pocket),” General Singh snapped. On jobs for relatives of the workers, the minister said “this is not a game of football.”
The mortal remains of 38 of the 39 Indians reached the country by late Monday and handed over to their relatives.