Following the positive vote on Brexit, at least some Indians in the UK have reported prank calls claiming to be from the UK Home Ministry and asking them to get ready to be deported to India.
It is not clear whether the callers are trying to make a quick buck in the confusion over Brexit, or giving vent to their anti-immigrant sentiments.
“I am getting many such complaints. Pl take this up with the Police. We must deal with this firmly,” said Sushma Swaraj, India’s minister for external affairs in response to one such complaint.
Swaraj was resonding to a complaint by Rajeev Singh, who used Twitter to reach across to her.
“I got (a) call from (the) UK Home office,” he said. “They are saying you have given the wrong detail and now India government wants to deport you.
“I didn’t give any wrong detail..” he added.
The incident is likely linked to the positive outcome of the UK’s ‘Brexit’ vote, under which a majority of UK citizens expressed their desire to leave the European Union, ostensibly because of worries over immigrants taking away low-level jobs and driving down the standard of living in the country.
Britain is home to around 30 mln citizens of other EU countries, while only half that number have cross the channel to live on the other side.
Many from the continent, especially from countries such as Poland, see the UK as offering better job prospects compared to their home countries.
It is expected that Britain will leave the EU in the next 2 years following the vote, requiring these foreign nationals to leave the country as well.
Last month, the UK had made changes in the immigration law that required foreign nationals to be deported if their annual salary was below 35,000 pounds.