'Nation has a right to keep its data safe': CAIT advocates banning Huawei from 5G roll-out

As the demand for  boycotting of Chinese products get louder, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) now writes to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanding that Chinese firms HUAWEI & ZTE Corporation should not be allowed to participate in 5G network rollout in India due to strong concerns of national security, sovereignty and integrity.

Traders body raised apprehensions by saying these Chinese companies have been globally charged with a laundry list of crimes including spying, conspiracy, money laundering, bank & wire fraud.

"It's a demand under the campaign of Boycotting Chinese goods by Confederation of All India Traders which was launched on 10th of June. The fundamental reason of raising this demand is that we all know the users of smartphones are increasing day by day in India and after 5G, demand will increase and data capturing will be much easier in 5G network. We feel that looking at national security reason, these Chinese technology companies (Huawei and ZTE) should not be made a part of 5G roll out in India," said Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary-General of CAIT.

Read: Traders' Body CAIT Writes To 50 Top Indian Industrialists Urging Them To Boycott China

Read: CAIT Members Detained For Burning Chinese Products In Delhi's Karol Bagh Market

"We are going under certain critical circumstances with China and nobody can predict anything in coming future. On the other side every nation has a right to keep its data safe and if these two companies are being given any chance to participate in 5G rollout then probably the data captured by these Chinese companies could be used against India," added Khandelwal.

CAIT further said that there are many indigenous companies who should be given priority and the call of Prime Minister of "Vocal for Local" should be strengthened.

"We have several Indian companies available and we should give them a chance to strengthen the call of Prime Minister "Vocal for local". We have decided that India shouldn't be dependent on any country and we are beginning this by boycotting Chinese products," said Praveen Khandelwal.

Read: After CAIT, Delhi Traders Pledge To Not Sell Chinese Products Amid India-China Faceoff

Read: Traders' Body CAIT Suggests Measures To Broaden GST

(Image Credit- AP)