Manohar Parrikar says China making Ganesha idols with narrow eyes, pitches for Make in India

With even Indian Gods being imported from China, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday narrated how idols of Lord Ganesha were coming into India from that country with eyes becoming narrower and narrower.

Parrikar, who was addressing a seminar on 'Design and Make In India-Electronics,' was talking about the importance of government's flagship initiative. The Minister said he often gets statues of Gods, especially Ganesha, as gifts when he attends programmes.

"I found that nowadays the eyes are becoming smaller and smaller. One day I turned it back and found Made in China," he said leaving the audience at Vivekananda International Foundation in splits.

He said Indians have imagined the facial features of Goddess Saraswati and Ganesha among others based on the paintings of Raja Ravi Verma.

"Don't be surprised if it slowly changes. So we have to start 'Make in India' right from Diwali gifts to our own Gods. I think it is quite serious," he said, talking about the Chinese edge over India in manufacturing.

Turning anecdotal while talking about population problem, the Minister said when he was a child his father used to jokingly say that a single atom bomb can solve it.

"The population then was only 35 crore and he considered it to be a problem," he said in a lighter vein. India, he said, has a large number of youngsters because the country's population is huge.

Parrikar, known for his witty one-liners, also took a dig at Pakistan when a journalist told him that his recent comment on using terrorists to neutralise terrorists has spooked the neighbour (unko mirchi lagi hai). Parrikar replied, "I will not go into what Pakistan feels about that but mirchi, woh bhi Andhra ki lagi hai".