Stop this insult to India – boycott Chinese products

A wake-up call to Modi government on boycotting the Chinese products

I am being asked to boycott Chinese rakhis since China has massed its troops on our border ready to attack.

I have absolutely no problem with that. I know the Chinese economy will not collapse because I and millions of other patriotic Indians are boycotting Chinese rakhis. I am not that naive nor are my compatriots.

The boycott is quintessentially symbolic and needs to be implemented across the nation in a big way.

But will the Modi government please please save the nation the ignominy of an important part of Sardar Patel’s statue being outsourced to China? It is an insult to the memory of the great leader, who is the symbol of national unity, and to all Indians that several parts of the statue will come from a company in China. About 25,000 bronze parts of the statue are currently being fabricated by Jiangxi Toqine Co in Nanchang in China and they will be shipped to Gujarat for cladding the 182-metres tall statue being built at a cost of Rs 3,000 crores. Have we fallen so low in our self-esteem as a nation that we have to outsource the work to a Chinese firm? If we don’t respect ourselves, who will respect us?

But are we lacking in engineering genius that we have to take the help of China to erect a statue? Are we selling our national pride because it is cheaper to get the work done from China?

Since 1962, China is in illegal occupation of Aksai Chin and other parts of our country. Subsequently, Pakistan gifted it 5,000 sq km of J & K. China has built the Karakoram highway through our land. It is currently building the mega CPEC project through our territory.

The Gujarat government is saying shamelessly that the statue contract was given to L&T and this company has in turn outsourced part of the work to China. Couldn’t it have inserted a clause in the contract that the project should be totally indigenous? Actually, L & T should have been sensitive enough not to involve a foreign company and especially a Chinese one at that in the project. But then such considerations cannot be expected from private firms concerned about bottom lines.

But the insult to Sardar Patel and the nation has got to stop and now!! Modi should order L & T to renege its contract with the Chinese company. L & T is large enough to take the hit.

But are we lacking in engineering genius that we have to take the help of China to erect a statue? Are we selling our national pride because it is cheaper to get the work done from China? As it is we are spending Rs 3,000 cr. Hence a few hundred crores would not make much of a difference by getting the work done locally.

But the insult to Sardar Patel and the nation has got to stop and now!! Modi should order L & T to renege its contract with the Chinese company. L & T is large enough to take the hit. If not, the people will raise a special fund to compensate it. But for heaven’s sake please put an end to this gross insult to our great nation.

I will do my bit by boycotting rakhi and everything made in China. But will the Modi government do its bit? The nation wants to know.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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S Balakrishnan

Advocate and Senior Journalist who was formerly City Editor & Chief of Bureau of The Times of India, Mumbai. He has also served in the MumbaiMunicipal Council.

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