Representative photo NEW DELHI: Over a hundred writers, translators and publishers have written an open letter accusing the 'JCB Prize for Literature' of hypocrisy, saying the British bulldozer manufacturer company that funds it played a "major role in the horrifying destruction of homes" across India and Palestine. They said the BJP government has consistently used JCB bulldozers in a "systemic campaign" to demolish Muslim homes, shops and places of worship across various Indian states -- "an ongoing project disturbingly named 'bulldozer justice'". The letter was released two days before the winners of the 'JCB Prize for Literature' were announced on November 23.
In an open letter signed by celebrated poet and critic K Satchidanandan, poet and publisher Asad Zaidi, poet Jacinta Kerketta, poet and novelist Meena Kandasamy, and poet and activist Cynthia Stephen, the writers said JCB (India) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British construction equipment manufacturer JC Bamford Excavators Limited (JCB), which has been one of the most influential donors to the British Conservative party. "The employment of JCB equipment within far-right Hindu supremacist projects in India comes as no surprise in this context," the open letter read. JCB bulldozers are also responsible for home demolitions and settlement expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, due to a contract between JCB's agent and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, thus playing a "key role in Israel's continued attem.