The Confederation of All India Traders on Wednesday released a list of more than 500 Chinese products to be boycotted, Business Today reported. The decision came a day after it was revealed that at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a violent clash with their Chinese counterparts along the Line of Actual Control.
Products on the boycott list include fast-moving consumer goods, consumer durables, toys, furnishing fabrics, textiles, builder hardware, footwear, apparel and kitchen items. “By calling for the boycott of these Chinese products, the objective is to reduce import of Chinese finished goods by $13 billion or about Rs 1 lakh crore, by December 2021,” the confederation’s Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal told Business Today.
Khandelwal said that the body has raised important matters with the Centre, including projects such as the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System, which is being carried out by a Chinese firm. The confederation also questioned the 1.01% stake of People’s Bank of China in HDFC Bank.
The traders’ body said in a statement that the 500 items that have been selected for boycott do not require advanced technology for manufacture, and can therefore be produced in India.
Khandelwal also requested celebrities not to endorse Chinese products. “CAIT will approach various celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Vicky Kaushal, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Virat Kohli, Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh, to name a few, and motivate them to give up these endorsements, keeping in view the sentiments of Indian citizens,” Khandelwal told The Print.
The CAIT secretary general claimed that most Indian celebrities continue to endorse Chinese brands even as soldiers die on the Indo-Chinese border. “It is expected from these celebrities to stand with the sentiments of the Indian people who are up in arms against China for its aggression against Indian forces,” he said. “They should be part of a campaign to boycott Chinese products for the cause of the motherland.”
The traders’ body claims to represent seven crore traders and 40,000 associations in India. On June 10, the body had prepared a list of 3,000 items that are imported from China.
On Wednesday, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the border incident in Galwan was a “pre-meditated and planned action” by China, which led to the violence. He added that the border situation would now be handled in a responsible manner and both sides would disengage. But Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi the “unprecedented development” will also have a serious impact on the bilateral relationship.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the sacrifice of Indian soldiers will not go in vain. He is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with all Opposition parties on June 19 to discuss the situation with China.
Meanwhile, a video on Twitter showed the residents of an apartment in Surat destroying their television set by flinging it from the video. Following this, people standing on the ground stomped on the TV.
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