NEW DELHI – Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Manish Tewaritoday claimed that 60,000 Indian youth, a substantial number of them fromPunjab, were detained at the detention camps along the US-Mexico border.

He said he had personally visited the border area during his recent USvisit and was alarmed by the situation there.

Addressing a party workers’ meeting organised by Punjab Congress secretarySatwinder Jawaddi here, Tewari said that he was told during his visit that60,000 Indians, who had tried to sneak illegally into the US throughMexico, had been detained by the US authorities.

“Of these, over ninety percent are Punjabis,” he added.

Expressing concern over the plight of these stranded youth, Tewari saidtheir release has to be dealt at the level of the Ministry External Affairsand he had already raised the matter.

He added that Punjab also needed to create job avenues for the youth.

Speaking about the Congress’ prospects for the upcoming Lok Sabhaelections, the former Ludhiana MP said that the “countdown” of the NDAgovernment had started.

“Their despair and frustration were revealed during the Prime Minister’sspeech in the Parliament during the no-confidence motion,” he said.

“The NDA may have won the confidence of the House, but it has actually lostthe confidence of people across India,” he added Tewari asserted that afterthe general elections next year, a “progressive and secular” governmentwill be in power at the Centre.