British PM Boris Johnson pays unplanned visit to JCB factory in Gujarat

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 21

UK PM Boris Johnson’s visit to a JCB facility was not put on the itinerary by the Indian government. His visit was more of gratitude as the factory is owned by Conservative peer Lord Bamford who has donated to the Conservative Party about £14 million since 2001 and had also backed Johnson’s Conservative leadership bid in 2019, reported the British media.

Johnson had to make a special effort to visit the factory despite several engagements in Ahmedabad during a day-long visit. The government facilitated his wish by arranging for an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to get to the project site. Speaking to reporters after reaching there, Johnson said it was the “living, breathing incarnation of the umbilicus between the UK and India. This is a world-leading factory – 600,000 diggers a year coming from India, exported from India to 110 countries with British technology.’’

With the Jahangirpuri demolition in the backdrop, Johnson was asked if he would raise tricky issues with PM Modi, such as the use of bulldozers to destroy Muslim homes. “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,’’ he said.

Johnson opened the $ 100 million factory which will fabricate parts for global production lines. JCB first began manufacturing in India in 1979 and is now the country’s leading producer of construction equipment.