‘Vocal-for-local will stop unfair Chinese dumping of goods'

Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the RSS, is gung-ho over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for an Atmanirbhar Bharat as part of the post-pandemic economic revival. SJM national co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan tells Bhavna Vij-Aurora that it is a vindication of the organisation’s 30-year-long struggle, and it is time to repose trust in indigenous talent, resources and knowledge.

- Bhavna Vij-Aurora

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Rs 20 lakh crore COVID-19 package and called for self-reliance or ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. Are you happy with the move?

The Prime Minister has echoed what the Swadeshi Jagran Manch has been saying over the past 30 years. It is a vindication of our long struggle to see India economically independent and self-reliant. We are supporting the government completely in this endeavour and launched a pan-India Swadeshi Swavlamban Abhiyan (self-reliance campaign) from May 19 to spread awareness.

How does your campaign dovetail with the government’s self-reliance call?

We are drawing a comprehensive plan to involve people from all walks of life, including workers, farmers,small-scale entrepreneurs, academicians, technocrats, industry and trade leaders, to spread awareness and promote swadeshi or local products. We will also distribute lists of such products. This is the time for handholding of local, small-scale manufacturers, artisans and small businesses. Districtlevel committees will be constituted involving people from industry and trade activists for this purpose.

There is still some ambiguity about what defines ‘local’ in context of swadeshi. Does it mean products manufactured by Indians within the country? Or will it include products made in India by MNCs?

When you say local, it is the narrowest form of swadeshi. In addition to goods made by Indian manufacturers, it would also encompass companies with foreign equity but where Indian equity is more than 51 per cent.