“What India Out,” exclaims an angry Mir Mostaque Ahmed Robi, a former Bangladesh lawmaker. “In last 2 days, I have purchased leather goods worth 20000 Indian rupees, essential medicines worth quite as much for me and my ailing wife, and panjabi(kurta) worth 15000 rupees.”
His angry outburst was in response to the “India Out” campaign launched in Bangladesh by few opposition bloggers and politicians, and which gained some traction when senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi set fire to his Kashmir shawl during a public protest against Indian goods, provoking PM Sheikh Hasina to dare him and his party colleagues to set fire to sarees in the wardrobes of their wives.
Ruling Awami League figures like MP Tarana Halim have joined PM Hasina in challenging the “India Out” campaign. Halim argued in a recent article that Bangladeshis buy Indian goods because they are valued and varied. “I buy many sarees when in India not because we don’t produce good sarees but because Indian sarees are relatively cheaper and there is enormous variety on offer,” she told Federal.
“And where outside Bangladesh can I buy sarees — China, US or UK?,” she asks sarcastically. “Last time I was in India, I........