India’s cabinet minister of consumer affairs, food, and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan appealed to the Indian people not to buy any products from China and directed officials in his ministry to stop purchasing “made in China” stationery and other administrative items.
“I want to appeal to everyone that the way China is behaving, we boycott all Chinese products,” Paswan said at a press conference on June 18. “We have to give them a strong reply for their barbaric attack.”
India’s cabinet minister of social justice and empowerment Ramdas Bandu Athawale also called for boycotting Chinese products.
Government Level
The Indian government also took action to ban Chinese tech products.It’s unclear how much BSNL and MTNL rely on telecom equipment from Chinese suppliers.
But China’s largest telecom firms Huawei and ZTE have made significant inroads in the Indian market.
On June 18, Indian media, quoting officials, reported that New Delhi authorities plan to raise import tariffs on around 300 Chinese products in retaliation for the fatal clashes that occurred in the Ladakh region.
Civilian Level
On June 16, a political and cultural organization affiliated with the Indian left-wing party Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) urged the central government to bar Chinese companies from participating in government contracts.The organization, called Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, also asked the Indian public to stop using Chinese products.
Locals soon responded to such appeals. Since June 17, people have gathered on the streets to burn Chinese flags and photos of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Some brought their TV sets and computers that were made in China and smashed them.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), an organization that comprises 60 million merchants across 40,000 affiliates in the country, embarked on a new campaign, “Indian Goods–Our Pride” on June 17.
The organization is encouraging more domestic production in India to reduce the country’s reliance on Chinese imports.
Casualties’ Dignity
On June 18, India organized funerals for the dead soldiers in their hometowns.Similar scenarios happened in other cities where funerals for the soldiers were held.
But the Chinese regime has so far refused to release their number of casualties in the clashes. State-run media has confirmed there were deaths on the Chinese side.