India’s Defense Minister Urges Import Limits

India’s defense minister called for foreign consumer goods to be banned from sale in his country. George Fernandes told a student conference in Bombay that India should import “only those goods needed for its defense and development.” In 1977, during a stint as industry minister, Fernandes banned Coca-Cola from the country. In his speech, Fernandes charged that foreign companies control India’s soft-drink industry. Coca-Cola and Pepsi products are now sold in India. The convention was organized by the student wing of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in Bombay, India’s financial capital. Fernandes heads the Indian Socialist Party, a coalition partner in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government.