Amnesty India blasted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday for inaugurating a JCB factory in Gujarat, only one day after bulldozers made by the company were used to demolish homes in Delhi’s violent Jahangirpuri neighborhood. The group urged the UK government not even to keep silent, calling the move “ignorant.”
“In the wake of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi using JCB bulldozers to raze down shops of Muslims in Northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri yesterday, the U.K. Prime Minister’s inauguration of a JCB factory in Gujarat is not only ignorant but his silence on the incident is deafening,” Amnesty India said in a series of tweets.
Amnesty criticized the Jahangirpuri demolition
The British government “must not be a quiet bystander” while Indian authorities crackdown on human rights, according to the rights group. “It must bring human rights into the conversation.” Amnesty India stated, “India cannot wait another day for justice.”
Residents of the area, which had seen community conflicts last week, were not given an opportunity to retrieve their belongings, according to Amnesty International.
“These blatant attacks on religious minorities’ right to livelihood and suitable housing in India are an attack on their dreams for a safe future,” the group stated.