INDIAN STUDENTS IN USA ARE BEING TREATED LIKE CATTLE, SAYS MAIN OPPOSITION

NATURAL WITH ENGLISH SPEECH

DURATION: 1.11

SOURCE: ANI

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Indian students in USA are being treated like cattle, says main opposition.

Urging India's Foreign Ministry to provide assistance to Indian students ensnared in the visa controversy in the United States, India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party says the students are being treated like cattle.

SHOWS:

NEW DELHI, INDIA (JANUARY 30, 2011) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)

1. EXTERIOR OF THE HEAD OFFCIE OF INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP)

2. BOARD READING 'BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY'

3. PICTURE OF BJP'S SYMBOL 'LOTUS' FLOWER

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, SPOKESPERSON, INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY, SAYING: "Students are being treated like cattle. Students are not cattle in a ranch. Students who have gone there with self financing, having obtained the legal documents, the visa and the necessary papers are in their hands. And to now be cornered just because the university turns out to be illegal and not registered as per the US laws, I think the students are being denied their fundamental and human rights."

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, SPOKESPERSON, INDIA'S MAIN OPPOSITION BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY, SAYING: "Ministry of External Affairs should also take this matter lot more proactively and ensure that all required assistance is provided to the students whether it is legal or any other form of assistance. Students should be given a choice to continue or come back. Their rights should not be violated at all. Earlier, it was Australia, now it US, the Indian External Affairs Ministry should understand the complexity of this problem and take a proactive role."

STORY: India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday (January 30) strongly criticized the way Indian students were being treated in the United States over visa malice.

Many of the Indian students' visas were impounded and they also faced deportation scare after a local varsity called Tri-Valley University was raided and shut down in the US.

BJP spokesperson in New Delhi expressed outrage over media reports of detention of students and putting radio tags on their feet.

"Students are being treated like cattle. Students are not cattle in a ranch. Students who have gone there with self financing, having obtained the legal documents, the visa and the necessary papers are in their hands. And to now be cornered just because the university turns out to be illegal and not registered as per the US laws, I think the students are being denied their fundamental and human rights," said Nirmala Sitharaman, spokesperson of BJP.

Earlier on Sunday Foreign Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna slammed the American authorities for radio tagging some students, who New Delhi says have been duped by the sham university in California.

Recounting the harassment and racial attacks against Indian students in Australia, BJP urged the foreign ministry to play a more proactive role to safe guard interests of students abroad.

"Ministry of External Affairs should also take this matter lot more proactively and ensure that all required assistance is provided to the students whether it is legal or any other form of assistance. Students should be given a choice to continue or come back. Their rights should not be violated at all. Earlier, it was Australia, now it US, the Indian External Affairs Ministry should understand the complexity of this problem and take a proactive role," said Sitharaman.

Following the busting of the varsity the Indian students there were put under radar as an electronic device was attached to their body.

This GPS device would help the US authorities to keep a tab on the students so that they do not go underground.

About 1,500 students of Tri-Valley University, majority of them from India's southern Andhra Pradesh state, face deportation after the university was shut on charges of selling student visas.