NEW DELHI: Two days after the government banned 59 Chinese apps, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exited social networking platform Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. Modi had joined it in 2015. All 115 messages Modi had posted thus far were manually removed over the last two days.
BJP leaders saw in it a powerful personal message to China to stop messing around. Also, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo applauded the app ban, saying promoting clean apps will boost national security and integrity.
Another similar emphatic message came from Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, who said India will not allow Chinese companies to be part of highway projects, including through joint ventures.
“We will not give permission to joint ventures that have Chinese partners for road construction. We have taken a firm stand that if they (Chinese companies) come via joint venture, we will not allow it,” he said and added that the Centre will ensure that Chinese investors are not included in sectors like MSME. Gadkari also holds the MSME portfolio.
He said rebidding would happen in projects that have Chinese participation. “We have taken a decision to relax norms for our companies to ensure that they qualify in bidding in large projects,” he informed.
On stopping of consignments from China at Indian ports, the minister said it is not arbitrary. The government is initiating path-breaking reforms to help MSMEs to make the country self-reliant, he added.