The unprecedented and the deadliest clash between Delhi and Beijing on Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in more than four decades has flared up the emotions across India.
In New Delhi, the Defence Colony, a posh neighbourhood in the southern part of the city, has “declared war on China”. The president of the colony’s Residents Welfare Association President (RWA), Retired. Major Ranjit Singh, is worried as it was “unfortunate we cannot take up guns and bullets,” reported a news agency, Press Trust of India.
In a five-minute audio message that has been widely shared online, retired Major Singh, said, “You must have all got to know what happened. By treachery, unarmed officers and soldiers of the Indian Army were brutally murdered by the Chinese. This was total betrayal… nothing but murder.”
“Today, as your president, I declare Defence Colony is at war. Unfortunately we cannot take up guns and bullets but definitely there are other means. We can break China’s backbone economically and today I request you all, with immediate effect, shun Chinese goods and if you have any lying in your house, please throw them out,” he added.
In response the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, said today it would be “extremely dangerous for India to allow anti-China groups to stir public opinion, thus escalating tensions.”
Similar anti-China protests also took place in other parts of the country, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, Varanasi. Scattered protests were also reported from Patna in Bihar and Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat in Gujarat, where A-4 size printouts of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese flag were burned, reported PTI.
“I request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to conduct a surgical strike against China in the same way it was done against Pakistan. We have burnt pictures of the Chinese President and their flag to show our rage,” a protester in Patna told another news agency, Asian News International.
Residents of a housing society in Surat broke a China-made LCD TV in front of reporters to register their protest. “We hereby boycott all Chinese products. It is time we teach China a lesson,” one of the protesters was quoted by PTI.