App Ban Not Enough, China Needs To Be Given Befitting Reply, Says Mamata Banerjee

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, however, said that she would leave it to the Centre to decide on the issue.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Supremo Mamata Banerjee. (File Photo/ PTI)

Kolkata: Reacting to Central government's decision to ban 59 Chinese apps, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that banning apps will not be enough, asserting that China needs to be given a befitting reply. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, however, said that she would leave it to the Centre to decide on the issue. "It is a subject of the external affairs department, we will support the central government stand... But, we have to be very aggressive on one hand and on the other, use the diplomatic channel," Banerjee said during a press conference in Kolkata. "Only banning a few apps will not be a proper reply, we have to give China a befitting reply," she said. Meanwhile, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is a nephew of Banerjee, on Tuesday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "hypocrisy' over the Centre's move to ban 59 Chinese apps. Sharing Modi's video clip circulated on popular Chinese social media app TikTok, he tweeted: "Only a few days back Narendra Modi ji was found mourning the martyrdom of our soldiers on the same Chinese app he has now decided to ban. All in the name of a 'befitting reply' to China, whose incursions he even refuses to acknowledge." ALSO READ | Chinese App Ban: Homegrown App Developers Delighted, Say Time For 'Digital Atma Nirbhar’ "Hon'ble PM's hypocrisy is surely laughable," the TMC Lok Sabha member said. Statements from TMC leaders come a day after the central government banned 59 Chinese mobile applications, including TikTok, in India in the wake of India-China border stand-off in the Galwan Valley of eastern Ladakh that led to killing of 20 Indian soldiers on June 15. The order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that the 59 mobile applications that have been banned by the Government of India "are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.