Sections of Sangh Parivar appeal for boycott of all Chinese goods

High price for low cost

Sections of the Sangh Parivar have given a call to boycott all Chinese goods on April 25. The call comes in the wake of hospitals complaining that the accuracy of test results of Chinese rapid testing kits for coronavirus was found to be an abysmal 6 per cent. “Boycott China. We need to shed Chinese goods. We must understand that nations are already paying a high cost for low price of Chinese goods,” Ashwani Mahajan, convener of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, a Sangh Parivar- affiliated economic think tank, tweeted Wednesday. Shailendra Sengar, Bharatiya Janata Party Kisan Morcha national vice-president, called for a “complete boycott” of all Chinese goods on April 25. Mahajan appealed to all “Twitter warriors” busy spreading awareness about Chinese goods and supporting indigenisation to join hands. “Please join Swadeshi warriors team,” Mahajan said.

Old versus new

Last week, Congress  President Sonia Gandhi set up an 11-member consultative committee of the party to brainstorm on issues concerning Covid-19 and formulate the party's strategy. The committee is headed by former prime minister Manmohan Singh. While it has a sprinkling of senior Congress leaders like P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, the committee predominantly comprises younger leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Randeep Surjewala, K C Venugopal, Manish Tewari, and new entrants Praveen Chakravarty, Gaurav Vallabh, and Supriya Shrinate. This has caused some heartburn among senior party leaders. The consultative committee is being seen as the team that will help Rahul Gandhi's return as the party chief. The veterans who would want to be accommodated in any new arrangement will hold a meeting of the Congress Working Committee via video conference on Thursday. It would be interesting to see how this group negotiates its continued relevance in the party's highest decision-making structure.

Covid relief

With the lockdown effective at least until May 3, the Lok Sabha secretariat does not have to go through the exercise of holding an election to find two remaining members of Parliament’s 30-member committee on estimates for its year-long term beginning May 1. While 28 were elected in March, there were two vacancies. The secretariat received only two nominations, those of MPs Ajay Bhatt and Pinaki Misra, until the cut-off for filing nominations, and did not need to hold an election. The Covid-19 lockdown has also meant the secretariat pleading its inability to respond to RTI (right to information) applications, thanks to working with skeleton staff, and has said replies would be delayed.