The Bhabaniganj Market, the largest wholesale and retail hub in Cooch Behar town, witnessed a unique campaign on Tuesday with a section of traders visiting other shopkeepers with an appeal to refrain from selling Chinese and Bangladeshi goods.

The market that boasts 4,700 shops was set up during the reign of erstwhile Cooch Behar kings.

“We reached out to all those shop owners who are wholesalers and retailers of goods imported from Bangladesh and China. Considering the present state of affairs, we have requested them to abstain from buying and selling Chinese and Bangladeshi goods,” said Pankaj Bucha, one of the traders who led the campaign.

Since the downfall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh in August, this is the first time that traders in Cooch Behar have called for the boycott of goods imported from the two countries.

Sentiments have been running high in India since the recent Operation Sindoor, in which terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan was destroyed. Pakistan had purportedly used Chinese fighter aircraft during the military hostilities.

Sources have said the market has Chinesepatty and Hongkongpatty, two clusters of shops.

“The two clusters have around 375 shops where various Bangladeshi and Chinese items are sold. Today (on Tuesday), they were requested to stop selling such items,” said a trader who joined the campaign.

Carrying the Indian national flag, the group of traders moved from one shop to another. They requested the merchants to abstain from selling Chinese and Bangladeshi goods. The campaign started around 10am and continued for around one-and-a-half hours.

“For both China and Bangladesh, India is a major market. On one hand, these countries are fuming against India. On the other hand, they are exporting their goods to us to make money. This cannot go on,” said Raghunath Dutta, a trader.

A trader who sells electronic goods, including those from China, said: “The Centre has imposed a ban on the import of certain Bangladeshi items. Similarly, there should be a ban on the import of Chinese items. We would then act accordingly.”