Boycott products made in China, close down restaurants selling Chinese food: Athawale

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Thursday said all restaurants and hotels that sell Chinese food in India should be closed down and products made in China should be boycotted.His comments come after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent clash with the Chinese army in Ladakh's Galwan Valley. "China is a country that betrays.

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Thursday said all restaurants and hotels that sell Chinese food in India should be closed down and products made in China should be boycotted. He also urged the government to ask companies not to import Chinese products. His comments come after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent clash with the Chinese army in Ladakh's Galwan Valley.

"China is a country that betrays. India should boycott all products that are made in China. Chinese food and all restaurants and hotels that sell Chinese food in India should be closed down," Athawale, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, said in a tweet. In a video posted on Twitter, he further said if China continues to be "deceitful" then there should be a "aar-paar ki ladai" (fight to the finish).

"We have called for friendship multiple times but like Pakistan even China has been breaking rules and attacking us. China might be thinking that India is still the one of 1962 but the situation is different now. Indian army is very big and it is very strong. We want peace and do not want a war with China," he said in Hindi. "But if China continues its attacks deceitfully then to teach China a lesson, one day we must have 'aar-paar ki ladai' (fight to the finish) with China!" Athawale said in the video and also in the tweet accompanying it.

In another video, he said there is a need to teach China a lesson. "I urge Indian companies to not import products from China and they must be banned. Even the government should ask companies not to import things from China. "There are many Chinese restaurants in India so I request state governments to stop these restaurants and I also appeal to people to boycott Chinese food. India supports China economically but China is conspiring against us and that is why restriction is needed," he said in the video.

Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in a fierce clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region. He also paid tribute to the martyred soldiers.

"20 soldiers of India have been killed in violent clashes in Galwan of Ladakh. Humble tribute to the soldiers! The martyrdom of the soldiers will not go in vain. The government of India and all Indians stand with the families of the martyred soldiers!," Athawale tweeted in Hindi. Earlier in March, Athawale was in the news when his video along with Chinese Consul General in Mumbai Tang Guocai and Buddhist monks chanting 'Go corona, go corona' at a prayer meet had gone viral on social media.

The video was reportedly shot at Gateway of India on February 20 during a prayer session to stop the spread of the coronavirus.