New Delhi: Sonam Wangchuk, Educator and Innovator, whose life inspired the Aamir Khan-starrer 3 Idiots, speaks exclusively to ETV Bharat on Chinese incursions into Indian land and the movement to boycott Chinese goods and apps in the backdrop of Ladakh standoff between both the nations.
Q: How did this idea of Wallet v/s Bullet come to your mind?
A: While living in Ladakh I had been watching China’s incivility, dominance or infiltration whatever you call it, every now and then. The People of Ladakh face many problems because of it, especially shepherds, who take their goats out for grazing every day, their lands are being reduced (because of the incursions by the Chinese). I have been thinking that something should be done in this regard.
When they infiltrated again a few days ago, I got to understand that they have some other design and intention this time. Their aim wasn’t the violation of border only this time. No country will do it if it is facing the pandemic like COVID-19.
I got to understand that not only India but from Vietnam, Taiwan to the US navy, everyone is being provoked in the South China Sea. This shows that the reason for the activities by China is something else because it happened with all of them in a month. We can come to a conclusion that they are trying to solve their internal problems since there is a wave of anger amongst the people of China because the government could not tackle the pandemic successfully, which affected their economy. So to deviate the attention of their people, they are doing this.
Now we should understand that if China is doing this to save its economy, we should hit their economy too. We should not fall into their trap and respond to them with gun and bullets. If they have a fear of their economy being weakened, why not to hit them on the economy.
That’s why I said this should be done by the people of India, and that can be done by the wallet. You can use your wallet sitting anywhere, at your home, in a city or a village, by uninstalling an app. This sounds simple but if it happens in big volume, lakhs or crores of apps get uninstalled, and then they will face what they fear the most.
The dissatisfaction of the people of China will increase because of the weakening economy.
Q: But there is a question. Is it practical to boycott Chinese goods and apps, since Chinese goods have been integrated into our lives, not only in India but throughout the world? It is not an impossible task, but indeed a tough job though.
A: Yes, it’s tough but not impossible. I always say that many things are tough to do in this world. People from Jain community don’t even eat onion, garlic and carrot, but still, they manage to live a life. So, nothing is ‘tough’, if someone decides with a conviction, circumstances get moulded according to them.
The Jain community gets their food anywhere they go. Vegans can get vegan and a vegetarian can get vegetarian food if they wish. If we compare these ‘difficulties’ together, we will find that difficulties being faced by our Indian army jawans at the Indo-China border, where they are saving the border in freezing cold, can’t be compared with the difficulties you are facing in uninstalling a Chinese app.
The difficulty you are facing in uninstalling an app is nothing in comparison to theirs. If you can’t uninstall even an app, what can I say?
Q: Does the casual “Chalta Hai” approach of the average Indian bother you?
A: Yes, I am very angry with this casual approach. If there will be a cause for our decline as a nation, it will be this 'chalta hai' attitude. This is something that we can learn from the Chinese, I have noticed that they are very meticulous with everything they do which eventually leads them to success.
Whereas on this side of the border we see a constant lethargy, which has manifested itself in the way people are acting post lockdown, we were globally revered for our handling of the virus in the past few months, but now it seems that this reputation will be sabotaged by this very 'chalta hai' attitude. If we won’t take the necessary precautions India will lose this battle against the coronavirus.
If Indians succumb rapidly to the virus, then how are we going to take on China? On the other hand, we see a constant sense of responsibility on the part of the Chinese citizens, which was a major reason for the Chinese being able to control the virus. This should be learnt from the Chinese and we must also discipline ourselves, for us to have some hope in this fight.
Read: India and China disengage in eastern Ladakh, pull back troops
Q: We have 5 lakh crore worth of imports from China and electrical, mechanical, electronic goods account for 41% of the same. Would you suggest the substitution of these Chinese imports with imports from other countries, because the substitution of the same with domestically produced products does not seem possible, due to the lack of manufacturing?
A: Indeed. We should try and meet the demands of these products through domestic production as much as possible, and import from other countries to meet the demands that can’t be met through the same. We should try to import from countries that adhere to human rights law, environmental regulations and have a good overall attitude towards India, and do not misbehave.
The reason China has cheaper and more competitive products is due to its violations of labour laws and human rights law, because of which we see that labour there is very cheap. They have no regard for the environment or the labour, they are trying to exploit and extract from both of them as much as possible.
Further, they have a very bad track record as far as counterfeit goods are concerned, currency manipulation and their goods are cheap for all these reasons. Thus, we must ask ourselves, should we enable this attitude of China towards not only the international community but towards its own people.
These goods are a product of extreme exploitation of labour and the environment, among several other unethical things; this is another reason for the boycott of these goods.
We must also keep in mind that we are not averse to Chinese people, but rather the Chinese government. If the latter emancipates its people and becomes a republic, then perhaps, we can rethink this stance and resume our previous relationship with them without such a boycott.
Read: Chinese army has not yet retreated from Indian territory: Chushul Executive Councillor
Q: This call for boycott that you have extended to the people of India, would you say you would extend the same to the companies of India as well?
A: My call is first to the people of India, so that they can weather out this fight and can endure this minor inconvenience after which I will reach out to the Government of India, the big businesses and traders and request them to make efforts to promote domestically manufactured goods.
Q: The Chinese tend to invest in our country heavily and recently the government has taken some regulatory steps to control and assess FDI from the Chinese, would you say that the issues that have been brought up by you are already being taken by the Government?
A: If such steps have been taken by the government to protect businesses here domestically, then I appreciate such steps. My call was not a premeditated step; it was a call that came from my heart after seeing the violations of Indian honour and sovereignty being carried out by the Chinese.
Q: Do you believe that the steps of the Chinese government are due to the scarcity of water in the region and to appropriate more water resources to itself in the form of the Pangong Tso Lake?
Read: Eastern Ladakh standoff: LAC issue has to be resolved at political level, says former Army officer
A: We should stay vigilant and keep an aggressive stance. Even if they retreat, they (Chinese Army) may or may not return after a year or so. We should demand that the lands taken from us in 1962 be returned, and a return to the position that both the states were, before 1962.
Q: What is the message that you would like to convey to the crores of viewers of ETV Bharat?
A: Any proud citizen would hope that the economy of his country should be thriving. In the name of globalization, we are importing simple products such as spoon, bread and butter from other countries. We should focus on improving domestic production and the environment.
The effort should be for a globalized world that is environmentally friendly. I extend this call not only to Indians but the citizens of all countries in the world, I request all your viewers to share my video that has made a call to “help me change China” and spread it to the citizens of the whole wide world so that more international pressure can be created on China.
You all are “wallet soldiers”, do answer the call of duty.
