Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday attacked the Modi government over its decision that passport holders requiring emigration check would be given an orange-coloured passport while others will continue to get a blue one, saying it shows the BJP’s “discriminatory mindset“.

“Treating India’s migrant workers like second class citizens is completely unacceptable. This action demonstrates BJP’s discriminatory mindset,” he tweeted, after tagging a news report on a new proposal by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

On Friday, the spokesperson of the MEA announced that the last page of the passport with details such as name of the spouse, parents and address would no longer be printed and for those Indian nationals who come under ECR status, passports with orange jackets would be issued.

Those who have not cleared 10th standard school leaving exam come under the ECR category and require an Emigration Clearance Certificate from the authorities before they travel abroad seeking jobs.

“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 colour passport jacket and those with non-ECR status would continue to get a blue passport,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said on Friday.

Reacting to Mr. Gandhi’s tweet of this proposal being discriminatory, Trinamool’s Lok Sabha member Dinesh Trivedi said it reminded him of apartheid.

“This reminds me of the apartheid system of South Africa which Gandhi fought against and became Mahatma Gandhi. This is against human dignity,” he tweeted.