UK PM Boris Johnson climbs on bulldozer during visit to JCB plant in Gujarat

Halol: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson climbed on a bulldozer and waved to the media after opening a new factory of UK-headquartered heavy equipment maker JCB at Halol in Panchmahals district of Gujarat on Thursday.

Johnson was accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel during his visit to the factory of the bulldozer maker.

The British PM opened JCB’s latest factory in India with a 100 million pound investment, which will fabricate parts for global production lines. With 11 factories in the UK employing more than 7,500 people, JCB first began manufacturing in India in 1979 and is now the country’s leading producer of construction equipment.

Later, during an inspection of the premises, Johnson suddenly climbed on a bulldozer kept at the factory. He remained seated inside the bulldozer for a few moments and then stood up on the heavy machine and waved at media persons covering his visit to the facility.

The visiting dignitary’s act invited a lot of attention and became a talking point on social media platforms as it came in the backdrop of bulldozers being used to demolish “illegal” homes and shops in some parts of the country in the last few days in the wake of communal riots, the latest being in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area which saw clashes during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.

Hitting out at Johnson for inaugurating the JCB factory in Gujarat a day after municipal corporation in Delhi razed homes using bulldozers, Amnesty India called the move not only ignorant but his silence on the incident “deafening”.

Bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive by BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporatin, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.

Bulldozers were also used recently in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat during demolition drives against ‘illegal’ structures. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat recently saw violence during Ram Navami celebrations.

JCB now has six factories in India, including in Jaipur and Pune.