All for 'Desh Bhakti': This Indian brand is replacing your 'Chinese' Realme phone for free

Lava Mobile urged buyers to “choose a side” saying Indians should only buy mobiles from Indian brands. "India is my homeland. My smartphone, on the other hand, is Chinese. In a tweet, Lava asked, "Is that the real me?" The AGNI 5G, as per the company Lava, is the country's first 5G-enabled handset.

The Lava AGNI 5G comes with a quad camera setup, an 8GB RAM and 6.78-inch Full HD+ display, as well as 128 GB of internal storage. The phone is powered by Android 11 operating system and has a 5,000mAh battery with fast charging capabilities. The phone is available for Rs 19,999 on Flipkart and Amazon.

While Realme's parent company, BBK, is based in China, the company already manufactures phones in India at a shared facility in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Realme also exports its Made in India smartphones to countries such as Nepal. Almost all of the Chinese smartphone brands in India, not just Realme, have assembly plants in the country for local sales, employing thousands of people.

As soon as Lava Mobiles announced this offer on Twitter, social media users criticised the move saying Lava was merely using the ‘Proudly Indian’ tag to sell its products rather than focusing on the capabilities of Lava's smartphones.

"Let products speak for themselves," a smartphone user tweeted.