NEW DELHI — Neighborhood shopkeepers across India shut their stores Thursday, and many took to the streets to protest the government’s recent decision to allow in foreign retailers such as Walmart.
Traders and political activists blocked roads and climbed on trains as part of a national strike, holding up anti-Walmart posters and demanding that the government ‘‘Take it back.’’ Several politicians, including one whose party supports the coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said welcoming Walmart would destroy the mom-and-pop stores that are the backbone of Indian retailing.
‘‘The government is lying that companies like Walmart will generate millions of jobs in India — what about the 50 million small traders and shopkeepers who will be ruined?’’ said Murli Manohar Joshi, a senior lawmaker with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, echoing arguments that have been made in American cities again the megaretailer.
‘‘This decision will mean that Chinese goods will enter India through the back door,’’ Joshi said.
The government backed down from allowing foreign supermarkets last year, but it says it will not do so again.
WASHINGTON POST