UK PM Boris Johnson received a grand welcome in Ahmedabad, where he also met billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani on Thursday. Johnson is also going to inaugurate a new JCB plant in Halol, Gujarat, a move marked with controversy seeing how JCB bulldozers were used in the Jahangirpuri's demolition drive.
Johnson's JCB plant visit is seen as a model example of Indo-British business collaboration. The UK PM will also meet leading business group leaders to discuss the UK and India's commercial and trade links. His visit to India will focus on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, FTA and improving defence relations. But the timing of Johnson's visit to a JCB plant has touched a nerve.
Jahangirpuri's demolition drive
The demolition drive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri after the communal clash became the national headlines. But what came as a shock to many was that the bulldozing continued even after the Supreme Court issued a status quo order in connection with the demolition drive carried out by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).
The anti-encroachment drive began in the violence-hit Jahangirpuri area at around 10.40 a.m. in the morning. The first demolition was of a tobacconist's shop and then the JCB proceeded further to demolish another juice-cum-tobbacco vendor next to it. A double storey scrap dealer's shop was also razed to the ground.
Suddenly at around 11.10 a.m., the news of the Supreme Court ordering status quo over the demolition drive broke out and the bulldozers were halted to further carry out the demolition. But in just 20 minutes, at 11.30 the JCBs again started the drive and a 2-storey juice corner was demolished at first after a brief halt.
Why is Boris Johnson feeling the heat?
Just a day after this whole bulldozing event in Delhi, where JCB's bulldozers were used. The JCB logos were seen in the photos. JCB is synonymous with bulldozers in India, which is not surprising considering 600,000 diggers a year are exported from India to 110 countries. When the UK PM was challenged to raise the issue of bulldozing Muslim homes, Johnson said: "We always raise the difficult issues, of course we do, but the fact is that India is a country of 1.35 billion people and it is democratic, it's the world's largest democracy."
Regardless of the political response, Johnson's visit to a new JCB plant in Halol is seen as highly insensitive. Netizens have reacted sharply to this.
