JOIN USThe BJP on Tuesday demanded that the government must arrest gay US couples living here in violation of the law, even as leaders cutting across party lines expressed their outrage at the “shameful and barbaric” treatment meted out to Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York.
“Media reports say that visas have been issued to a number of US diplomats' companions, meaning same sex partners. After the Supreme Court ruled against such union, it is illegal in our country just as paying lesser wages is in the US. So, why does not the government of India go ahead and arrest them and punish them,” former external affairs minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said.
Expressing outrage at the police action against Khobragade in New York, Janata Dal-United suggested that the government should adopt a “tit for tat” policy towards US diplomats in the country.
“A strong message should be sent to the US from India on this issue. If this is done to our diplomats, the officers from the US in the Indian embassy should also be strip searched,” JD-U leader K C Tyagi said. He described the issue as “very serious” and said he would give a notice tomorrow to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to take up the issue in the Upper House.
The BJP, however, used the opportunity to taunt the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government about their diplomatic relations with the US, saying Washington did not “accord to it the level of friendship” that the Indian government claims to have with it.