Giving bulldozers a bad name

A bulldozer isn't just a piece of machinery. References to it in areas like film, politics and sport are common and frequent. (Illustration by Suneesh K.)

With authorities in various states as well as in the capital bringing in bulldozers to assert their power over poor people, the clunky, ugly earthmoving equipment has suddenly become part of our daily lexicon. Not for the first time, though. Just over 45 years ago, Delhi’s Turkman Gate was a witness to their destructive capabilities.

But the bulldozer as an idea has always had a life beyond the construction site. We use it commonly and frequently, with areas like films, politics and sports filled with references to it.

Americans James Cummings and J. Earl Mcleod are usually credited with having invented bulldozers in 1904 in Kansas, though there is some doubt about how much their invention resembled the modern-day version of it. Originally it was just a large blade that could be attached to the front of a tractor and was a clumsy contraption, restricted in its movements since it couldn’t move in any direction except forward.

According to ThoughtCo’s History of the Bulldozer, at around the same time, UK-based Hornsby turned one of its wheeled steam traction engines to a tracklayer format. Hornsby sold their patents to Benjamin Holt and it emerged as a refined piece of machinery after the Holt Manufacturing Company (later renamed the Holt Caterpillar Company in 1910) launched the Caterpillar Sixty. Bulldozer technically refers only to the shovel-like blade, though we now think of it as the entire vehicle. (Source: Bellis, Mary. "Famous Inventions: History of the Bulldozer." ThoughtCo, August 27, 2020.)

The name itself appears to have come from the jousts during mating seasons when bulls lock horns in a fierce struggle for strength and the stronger males literally push their opponents away. Given that background, it is no surprise that the use of the term is common in the world of politics with selected leaders given that honorific title. South Korea’s former president Lee Myung-bak came to be known as Bulldozer for his single-minded focus on economic growth. Closer home, before the state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav called Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath “Baba bulldozer”, possibly alluding to the latter’s strongarm crackdown against illegal occupation and mafia raj in the state. Why that should be construed as an insult is a bit of a mystery.

Beyond politics, the expression has been used for some really unsavory individuals. In 2016, the Syrian army captured a notorious Islamic State (Isis) executioner who was accused of a series of brutal beheadings and crude amputations of limbs. The obese 20-stone jihadist went under the nickname The Bulldozer, which he earned after he was pictured holding up a 52 kg Browning machine gun, loaded with armour-piercing bullets. Not leaving anything to chance, he was also filmed killing his victims by dropping a bulldozer on their head. Elsewhere, a Chinese bureaucrat, the former mayor of Nanjing, Ji Jianye, earned the sobriquet "Mayor Bulldozer" because of his penchant for grand construction projects. Sadly, he also had a fondness for some side hustles and was eventually sentenced to 15 years in jail for taking more than HK$14 million in bribes.

My personal favourite for the title of bulldozer was Hollywood star Carlo Pedersoli, better known as Bud Spencer, whose Spaghetti Westerns with Terence Hill including films like They Call Me Trinity and its sequel Trinity Is Still My Name brought so much joy through the 1970s and '80s. Spencer in fact, starred in a 1978 Italian comedy  (They Called Him Bulldozer) where he literally lived up to his epithet.

Sports, too, has had a fair sprinkling of references to the machinery. Footballer Subhash Bhowmick, who earned laurels for India and the two marquee Bengal clubs, was often referred to as the Bulldozer for his aggressive style of play. Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul also earned the nickname 'Gul-dozer' for his ability to hit the stumps. Sports teams have also adopted the name to signal intent. The Karnataka Bulldozers, for instance, is a Karnataka-based cricket franchise that plays in the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL). The National Youth Council of Nigeria’s football team in Abuja is also nicknamed D’ Bulldozers.

It would have been great if this humble piece of machinery, whose primary use was in construction, hadn’t been requisitioned to demolish livelihoods and homes.