Treating India’s migrant workers like second class citizens unacceptable: Rahul

New Delhi: Strongly criticising the decision of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to have a new category of color passports for citizens who have Emigration Check Required (ECR) status, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said treating India’s migrant workers like second class citizens was ‘completely unacceptable’.
Taking to social media,Mr Gandhi posting on his account a report that ‘passport may no longer serve as an address proof’, said, ‘Treating India’s migrant workers like second class citizens is completely unacceptable. This action demonstrates BJP’s discriminatory mindset.’
According to the report, new passports for citizens who have Emigration Check Required (ECR) status will have orange cover jackets, instead of the traditional dark blue.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday announced a new category of color passports after a decision was taken to discontinue the last page of the booklet, which contained information related to passport holder’s father, mother, spouse, address, ECR and details of the old passport booklet.
“As the last page of the passport would not be printed now, the passport holders with ECR status would be issued a passport with orange color passport jacket and those with non-ECR status would continue to get a blue passport,” said the MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Friday.