India-China border tension | Restaurants selling Chinese food should be banned: Union minister Ramdas Athawale

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale is known for coming up with quirky ideas for tricky problems. When the coronavirus outbreak was in its initial stages in India, the Republican Party of India (Athawale) chief had come up with a catchy slogan: 'Go Corona, Corona go'.

Coronavirus, unfortunately, did not 'go'. But it did provide some much-needed moments of humour during a time of crisis.

Now, with the tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) prompting calls for boycott of Chinese products, Athawale has pitched in his own two-bits.

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"Restaurants selling Chinese food should be banned. I appeal to people to boycott Chinese food," Athawale said, according to news agency ANI. To be fair, this is not the first time that Athawale has directed his ire at Chinese food or restaurants.

In 2016, according to a report by Mumbai Mirror, Athawale had suggested that Chinese restaurants also serve authentic Maharashtrian cuisine. At that time, the call was not for Chinese food to be taken off the menus, but a hotel owner had put the logical inefficiency in the suggestion this way: "Why will anyone order a misal pav at an authentic Chinese restaurant?"

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