Boris Johnson has been embroiled in controversy on the first morning of his long-awaited diplomatic visit to India after inaugurating a new JCB factory, one day after the company’s machines were used to illegally bulldoze Muslim homes and businesses in Delhi.
JCB is owned by Lord Bamford, who is close with the Prime Minister and backed his Conservative leadership bid in 2019. Through his business interests, he has also donated at least £10 million in cash and gifts to the Conservatives since 2001.
On Thursday, civil society activists and members of the Indian public accused the under-fire Mr Johnson of carrying out an ill-timed visit to the plant in Gujarat, the home state of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister.
Sushant Singh, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank, said: “The people working in Boris Johnson’s office are clearly unaware of the major human rights controversy over the use of JCB machinery in the bulldozing of Muslim homes and businesses in states ruled by Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] and in India’s capital.
“Inaugurating a factory which is producing machinery seen to target Muslims at the behest of Mr Modi does not set a good image for Mr Johnson or the United Kingdom in India.”
On Wednesday, JCB machinery was deployed by the authorities in Delhi after a request by the BJP to demolish Muslim-owned shops and properties in the neighbourhood of Jahangirpuri.
The destruction was halted only after India’s highest court ruled they were unconstitutional. However, demolition still continued, including to an entrance gate of a mosque.
The drive happened four days after a Hindu religious procession, armed with guns and swords, allegedly tried to storm a local mosque, sparking violence and injuring nine people.
The authorities in Delhi said they had demolished the Muslim properties in Jahangirpuri because they were illegal constructions. However, more than 730 other unauthorised settlements within India’s capital were left untouched.
Yogendra Yadav, one of India’s leading political activists, said: “One thing is quite clear: the demolition drive had nothing to do with the stated objective of settling encroachment because it is utterly selective and targeted. It follows a directive from the ruling party’s head in Delhi to hit back and teach a lesson to the local Muslim population.
“They [the Indian government] are quite sanguine in their belief that the British Government will not put too much of a premium on issues of human rights. The plant visit is just a symbolic affirmation of Britain’s not-so-glorious record on human rights.”
Five Indian states saw inter-communal riots last week, resulting in the deaths of at least three people. Following the violence, properties and businesses belonging to Muslims were also demolished by JCB bulldozers in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, two states ruled by Mr Modi’s Right-wing, Hindu nationalist BJP.
Mr Johnson hailed the trip to the JCB factory as a “living, breathing incarnation of the umbilicus between the UK and India”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman had to fend off a string of awkward questions about whether Mr Johnson had known about the demolitions in India before his trip and also denied that the visit had taken place because Lord Bamford was a Conservative donor.
“He chose to go to the JCB factory because it is a very good illustration of UK business, working with India and the Indian government to benefit both the UK and India,” the spokesman said.
“This is something that helps benefit the UK, whether it’s jobs or investment. Obviously, it’s helping the India economy as well.”
A JCB spokesman declined to comment.
