Meerut residents boycott Chinese goods; Diwali sales hit as #BoycottChineseProducts gathers speed.

Meerut: The campaign to boycott Chinese goods following the country's support to Pakistan after the Uri attack has started hitting Diwali sales in the city. There have been a string of messages on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms urging people to boycott Chinese products. City shopkeepers say that even if the residents find a better deal in Chinese products, they refuse to purchase them. While some of the traders who got Chinese stock are in a fix, others say they played safe and did not order Chinese products this year.

"There is hardly any demand of Chinese products this Diwali unlike previous years. Until last year, people would specially ask for Chinese products but this year despite having them in front of them, they out rightly refuse to purchase them. We had already ordered our stock for Diwali before Uri attacks but the tension between India and Pakistan and China's support to Pakistan has really taken a toll on sale of Chinese products in India. We are facing losses but there is little we can do if they are not ready to purchase Chinese products," said Dhairya Rastogi, owner of a private shopping store in the city.

Over the years, Chinese firms have gained a near-monopoly over many Diwali products such as lights, decorative items and statues.

While some shopkeepers are facing losses, others are trying to fake Chinese goods as Indian goods to clear the stock. "Initially I did not try to fool the customers but when I noticed that nobody is ready to purchase Chinese goods at all, I did not have a choice but to tell that them that the Chinese goods were in fact Indian. If I don't do this, I will have to face heavy losses and I cannot afford this," said a shopkeeper, on account of anonymity. While many who purchased the stocks before time got stuck with the problem of clearing their stock, many others say their stocks were in fact stalled on their way from Delhi.

"We had ordered very few Chinese goods but our truck was stopped mid-way and it could not pass Delhi borders. I don't know who they really were but our stocks could not reach us. Now we are selling products made in India only, which shockingly are in high demand this year," said Harish Gopi, a wholesale shop owner in Meerut.

The campaign began on social media with people calling for the boycott of Chinese goods this Diwali. These posts argued that the boycott would have a two-fold advantage -that of crippling the Chinese economy and promotion of `swadeshi' products.