Why The Diwali campaign to Boycott Chinese Goods Failed!

This Diwali’s boycott ‘made in china’ products campaign had to flop. How do we break India’s craze for Chinese produce?

- Ananth Krishnan in Beijing and Yiwu

For several weeks in September and October, a campaign to boycott ‘Made in China’ goods went viral on WhatsApp groups and social media. Messages that spread like wildfire, triggered by China’s latest provocation—blocking India’s bid to sanction the Pakistani terrorist Masood Azhar—urged consumers to stop buying Chinese goods ahead of Diwali, from firecrackers to Diwali lights, even showing them how to identify ‘Made in China’ barcodes.

Among the groups leading the call was the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). On October 20, SJM members burnt effigies of Madhya Pradesh ministers because they had invited Chinese companies to an investors’ summit. By November, the groups were quick to label the boycott a resounding success. Local trading bodies in Gujarat, Punjab and New Delhi reported a fall in demand for Chinese goods, particularly firecrackers, in the lead­up to Diwali, by as much as 20 per cent. SJM national convenor Ashwani Mahajan said the boycott had shown that “for the first time after Independence, a certain consensus has arisen among people against Chinese products” which was “going to add to the zeal against buying Chinese goods despite cheaper prices”.