5G trials: how did China’s Huawei beat opposition from India’s powerful RSS?

New Delhi’s decision to include the embattled Chinese firm has drawn the ire of an organisation associated with the nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch group was among those that successfully pushed for the Narendra Modi administration to exit the RCEP free-trade deal

Reading Time:3 minutes

Embattled Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is set to take part in India’s upcoming 5G trials. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:30am, 8 Jan 2020Updated: 8:30pm, 17 Feb 2020

While Huawei reacted with jubilation to the Indian government’s decision not to exclude it from the country’s upcoming 5G trials, New Delhi is undecided as to whether the embattled Chinese firm will be allowed in the final roll-out – and is more concerned with keeping Beijing onside for now.

An official with the Indian telecommunications ministry, speaking to the South China Morning Post on condition of anonymity, said the government had not made a final decision and Huawei was only permitted to participate in the trials as New Delhi did not want to antagonise Beijing.

The decision has, however, drawn the ire of a group affiliated with the nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation, the parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

“There is ample evidence that leads to suspicion of Chinese companies indulging in the [extraction of] sensitive information from devices and equipment that it exports,” wrote Ashwani Mahajan, the national co-convener of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), which deals with economic issues, in a letter to Modi.

Speaking to This Week in Asia, Mahajan said national security should be paramount and there should be no compromise.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x