Amid calls to boycott trade and tourism with Turkiye and Azerbaijan for their support to Pakistan during the recent conflict with India and the government of an Indian arm of Turkey-headquartered airport ground handling major, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar Saturday said that the country can no longer afford to strengthen the economies of nations inimical to India’s interest.
“Every individual is empowered to help the nation in security. Trade, business, commerce, and industry in particular can play a pivotal role on security issues. Can we afford to empower countries that are inimical to our interests? Time has come when each one of us must deeply think about economic nationalism,” he said, speaking at the convocation of Jaipuria Institute of Management held at Bharat Mandapam here.
This comes a day after Defence Minister said in Gujarat that the IMF should rethink the $1 billion financial assistance to Pakistan “a big chunk of $1 billion coming from IMF will certainly be ”. “Can this (funding from) IMF, which is an international organisation, not be considered an indirect funding?” he had said.
Emphasising that one must keep in mind the principle of nation first, Dhankhar said: “We no longer can afford, by travel or import, to improve the economies of those countries because of our participation. And those countries, in times of crisis, are positioned against us… Everything has to be reckoned on the fulcrum of deep commitment, unflinching commitment, dedication to nationalism because there is no other way out. And that mindset we must teach our toddlers right from day one.”
Speaking of Operation Sindoor, he lauded the armed forces for doing “justice” and said India had struck deep inside Pakistan to target terror bases.
Dhankhar pointed to a recent trend of foreign universities setting up campuses in India and said that there should be “filtration”. “How can we countenance or overlook narratives that are anti-national? Foreign universities coming to this country is something which requires filtration. It requires deep thinking. It is something we have to be extremely careful about.”
During the four-day military hostilities, the central government had said that preliminary reports indicate that Turkish-made drones were used by Pakistan. Following Operation Sindoor, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on May 7 to Pakistan PM to convey his solidarity and he told Sharif, as per a statement from his office, that Turkey supported what he called Pakistan’s “calm and restrained policies” in the crisis. Azerbaijan, too, came out in support of Pakistan.
Following a ceasefire understanding on May 10, calls intensified to cancel travel to Turkiye and Azerbaijan and ending MoUs and contracts with companies and organisations in the two countries. The Confederation of All-India Traders Friday announced a boycott of the two countries.
