Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently cautioned the country to be prepared for possible sabotage attempts as India’s semiconductor sector is making unprecedented progress. Speaking to NDTV about India’s emerging semiconductor industry, Vaishnaw warned of the challenges that India might face in its journey to become a global semiconductor hub, posed by elements opposed to the country’s progress.
Vaishnaw cited the 2021 food poisoning incident at Apple’s Foxconn plant near Chennai and revealed that it was an attempt to disrupt Apple’s India operations. He added that the company’s phone supplier plant had a controversial launch, as it was surrounded by negative publicity peddled by global publications like Reuters. The Minister said that people who could not tolerate India emerging as a manufacturing hub tried all kinds of tricks, from poisoning workers’ food to cutting electricity wires to disrupt the country’s progress.
“This is just a foundation. Until now, even building the foundation was very difficult in itself. But now, look, many global challenges will arise. Remember, when Apple’s manufacturing began, some people alleged food poisoning, and an organisation such as Reuters spread so much fake news, claiming that we do not allow married women. Things of this kind were circulated. Electricity cables were cut, and various such incidents occurred, involving people who did not like India emerging as a manufacturer. They tried every trick,” the Minister said.
Vaishnaw added that while India will have many supporters in its journey, it will also have people who will be opposed to its march forward. “Once people start feeling that a new country has entered this industry, there will be people who support us, but there will also be people who oppose us, and they are the ones who will create problems. I have told the entire industry to be prepared for such incidents,” Vaishnaw cautioned.
The Minister further said that the challenges before India will not only be physical but will also include cyber-attacks and narrative-based challenges. “And this is not merely physical sabotage; there will certainly be sabotage of the narrative—sabotage of the narrative, that is. You will see what kinds of challenges they create: they will carry out cyber-attacks. They will spread a great deal of fake news. They will also try every kind of physical attack. We have to be prepared for this, because this is a strategic industry. This is not an industry where people will give in so easily, right? So we have to establish our position. We will have to be very, very methodical, very conscious of the challenges, and do it,” he said.
The revelation by the Union Minister comes as a major shock, as no one could have guessed at that time that the 2021 food poisoning incident at Apple’s Foxconn plant was part of a conspiracy to obstruct Apple’s operations in India and bring a bad reputation to the country.
Foxconn plant food poisoning
In 2021, Apple’s Foxconn plant was temporarily shut down due to protests by workers following a food poisoning incident. The manufacturing unit suffered disruptions in operations after 159 of its workers were hospitalised due to food poisoning at its hostel in Sriperumbudur. The incident was widely reported at the national and international level, harming the reputation of India, which was aiming to expand its manufacturing sector
This was followed by fake news claiming that several of the hospitalised workers had passed away, which further triggered the outrage. Female employees of the factory staged a protest and blocked the Chennai-Bengaluru highway for almost 16 hours after hearing the rumours about employees losing their lives. In reality, all the hospitalised workers were given treatment and fully recovered.
The protests at Foxconn were the second such incident in the country, where an Apple phone supplier unit faced disruptions due to protests. A year before that, trade unions protested and vandalised Apple’s contract manufacturer Wistron India’s plant in Kolar, Karnataka.
Apart from the protests, the Foxconn plant also faced fake allegations of not recruiting married female workers, citing more family responsibilities for them. International publications like Reuters reported on the allegations, maligning India’s image globally
