Swadeshi does not necessarily mean boycotting every foreign products, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Wednesday and asserted that only those technologies or materials may be imported which the country lacks traditionally or are not available locally. Talking about the relevance of being self-reliant and swadeshi in the wake of COVID-19, he suggested that the pandemic has made it clear that globalisation did not yield desired results and one economic model cannot be applicable everywhere.

Mutual cooperation among self-reliant countries while considering the world as one family and not one market, seems to be the economic model required for post-COVID world, Bhagwat said while speaking at a virtual book launch event. Backing the BJP-led NDA government's pitch for a self-reliant India, the RSS chief said swadeshi means to promote and give preference to indigenous products or technologies and not necessarily boycott all foreign items.