Govt officials shouldn't attend Huawei's conference; can't rely on Chinese telecom firm: SJM

The RSS-affiliated SJM has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to allow top officials of the Telecom Ministry attend a conference organised by Huawei on Thursday, alleging that the Chinese telecom firm's India operations are not beyond suspicion.

The event, however, was attended by a Union minister and the outgoing Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan.

In a letter to Modi, Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said instead of adhering to the highest standards of integrity required in the Central Civil Services Conduct Rules, "the entire top echelons of DOT (Department of Telecommunications) are attending a conference paid for by Huawei.

Mahajan said Huawei together with other Chinese telecom companies, faces outright bans/ severe restrictions in the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

He said even in India, the operations of Huawei are "not beyond suspicion", and are "never investigated thoroughly."