As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson perched on a bulldozer during his visit to a JCB factory in Gujarat, the visuals came in for criticism on Twitter, and the British media took note of the optics – amid outrage over demolitions ostensibly targeting Muslims in India.
A new plant of the UK-based Joseph Cyril Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB) – which also manufactures bulldozers among other heavy equipment – was inaugurated by Johnson on the first day of his India tour on Thursday. Hours later, Amnesty International India said the move was “not only ignorant but his silence on the incident is deafening”. It said the UK government must not be a “mute bystander” as Indian authorities “clamp down on human rights” in the country.
