UK MPs Slam Boris Johnson's Silence on Indian Muslims During Meeting With Modi

Zarah Sultana, Khalid Mahmood, and Nadia Whittome lashed out at the British PM regarding his recent trip to India.

Vadodara: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson climbs onto a JCB at the new JCB Factory in Vadodara, Gujarat, as part of his two-day trip to India on Thursday, 21 April. 

(Photo: PTI)

MPs of the United Kingdom have voiced their concerns about the treatment of Muslims and other minorities in India in the context of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's recent trip to India to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Johnson, during his two-day visit, went to the JCB factory along with Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and toured the facility with Tory donor Lord Bamford, who owns the company.

This, however, happened one day after bulldozers razed several shops, vending carts, and other alleged illegal structures in North West Delhi's Jahangirpuri.

These demolition drives have taken place across the country and have mainly targeted Muslim-owned shops and establishments.

Leading the charge against Boris John was Zarah Sultana, a British politician from the Labour Party and a Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry South, who said on 27 April, "Following widespread anti-Muslim violence in India, which is widely seen as being whipped up by Modi and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)... Did the Prime Minister (PM) challenge Modi on the BJP’s role on anti-Muslim violence in India, or did the PM once again disregard human rights abuses?"

She had lashed out Johnson a week before her question in parliament.

On 21 April, she tweeted, "Boris Johnson is visiting India, which has seen a spate of anti-Muslim violence whipped up by Modi and the ruling BJP. But of course, Johnson won't raise this: After all, his own racist comments led to Islamophobic incidents surging by 375 percent."

Khalid Mahmood of the Labour Party referred to the Indian government as "a human rights abuser across all of its community" on Tuesday in the House of Commons.

A trade deal between India and the UK, he added, would be equivalent to “dancing on the human rights and civil liberties of all those people who have been persecuted in India".

Mahmood, who was born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was the first Muslim to become an MP for England.

Nadia Whittome, who is a Member of Parliament for Nottingham East since the 2019 general election, and is the youngest MP at 23, also joined in on the attack on the British Prime Minister.

"The BJP (Modi’s governing party) is using JCB diggers to bulldoze the homes and shops of Muslims. Boris Johnson posed with JCB diggers on his recent visit to India, but his minister wouldn't say whether he even raised these demolitions with Modi," she wrote in a tweet in which she had attached her question in the House of Commons.