Boycott Chinese goods - Ladakh shadow on lights business - Around 4 lakh people in Bengal are dependent on the illuminations trade that uses Chinese raw material

An illumination artist at work in Hooghly district’s Chandernagore town. Picture by Amit Kumar Karmakar

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, 24.06.20, Bolpur(Birbhum): The rising clamour to boycott Chinese goods in the wake of the Galwan Valley clash that left 20 Indian soldiers dead last week has pushed hundreds of workmen and illumination artists in Hooghly’s Chandernagore to the edge of uncertainty.

People in the town’s globally famed illuminations trade say they will be in peril if raw material imports such as LEDs, power-supplying units and integrated circuits (ICs) stop from China.

At least 25,000 people are estimated to work in Chandernagore’s illuminations industry. Around 4 lakh people in the state are dependent on the illuminations business that uses Chinese raw material to a large extent.

Artists and workmen have asked the government to arrange for indigenous, low-cost products if a formal boycott of Chinese products was inevitable.

“We are seeing people aggressively burning Chinese products and wanting a blanket boycott of all Chinese goods. What will happen to the illuminations industry? We urge the government to produce the same devices at Chinese prices before raising the bogey of boycott,” said Babu Pal, a well-known illuminations promoter who commissions lights for Durga Puja pandals in Calcutta.

On the price difference, Pal said: “An LED lamp from China costs 50 paise. The same product made in India costs Rs 12-15. An IC from China costs around Rs 2, whereas the Indian counterpart around Rs 10. The Centre wants us to be self-dependent, but the government needs to achieve it by setting up industries (that produce these goods at a low cost),” said Pal, also the secretary of Chandernagore Lights Owners’ Association.

The illuminations business in Chandernagore — a former French colony — was born when electrical lights were introduced in Jagadhatri Puja. A lights-and-sound trade community now caters to festivals across India and the diaspora.

In Hooghly, with the BJP’s Locket Chatterjee as MP, the party has held over a hundred protest rallies asking people to boycott Chinese products. But the plight of illumination artisans has reportedly led BJP leaders to pledge support to them till India starts producing the items. “Our Prime Minister has called for atmanirbhar Bharat. That will take time, and, till then we need to use Chinese products,” said Goutam Chatterjee, BJP’s Hooghly president.