Angola hostage crisis: Parties urge govt to intervene

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Prakash Javadekar has said that the party plans to the issue of Angola in Parliament where the government in power has confisicated the passports of agitating Indians working in various companies and refusing to return them, thereby not allowing them to return to their country of origin.

"The ministry of external affairs should take up the matter with the Angolan government strongly. So far no action has been taken by the government. The BJP plans to raise the issue in the two houses of Parliament," Javedkar told rediff.com.

Former Union Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia plans to write to the prime minister. Interestingly, he knew little about what is transpiring in Angola. "Now that my friends have told me about it, I will take up the matter with the PM," Ramoowalia said.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari also emphasised that the MEA should take up strong action in this regard. "I am confident that the government would do the needful," he said in response from a question from rediff.com.

Sudhakar Reddy, general secretary Communist Party of India, urged the Centre to enquire and provide help to Indian workers in Angola, who were allegedly fired at when they demanded payment of salaries.

A large number of Indian workers, agitating for their salaries, were allegedly fired at on May 9 and many of them were imprisoned and provided no medical aid, he said in a letter to Union Minister for Overseas Indians Affairs, Vayalar Ravi.

He urged the minister and the MEA to gather all information about the welfare of the workers in Angola and ask the Indian embassy to intervene and discuss with the Angola government," Reddy said in the letter.

The majority of workers are from Andhra Pradesh, while others belong to different states, he said. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has also directed the chief secretary to take up the issue with the MEA.