But now it is extending the campaign to other Chinese telecom equipment makers. "India must recognise the full extent of the national and economic security threat posed by foreign and especially Chinese equipment in India's ICT (information and communication technology) networks," said Ashwani Mahajan, who heads economic wing of the RSS, known as Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), in a statement on Sunday.
"China today controls a significant section of India's telecom networks even though information dominance is at the core of China's military strategy, posing an unacceptable security risk," Mahajan said. Huawei is at the centre of a tug-of-war between China and the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration put the company on a blacklist in May, citing national security concerns.
The RSS's economic wing has had significant influence on Indian government investment policy in the past year, especially in getting new regulations in place to protect small traders from U.S. owned e-commerce companies Amazon.com Inc and Walmart's Flipkart.