Explain how Anderson got safe passage: JD(U)

June 10, 2010 01:11 am | Updated November 09, 2016 02:55 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

The reconstitution of a Group of Ministers to look at the issues arising from the Bhopal gas leak case verdict has not weakened the political chorus for the extradition and trial of the former Union Carbide chief, Warren Anderson.

On Wednesday Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in demanding that the government make clear what transpired in the days after the deadly industrial accident that led to the then government allowing Mr. Anderson to go home safely.

Mr. Yadav's charge was that Mr. Anderson was in fact given safe passage when thousands were dying in the streets of Bhopal. “He was treated like an honoured state guest instead of being dealt with as a criminal.” The inability or unwillingness of the government of India in handling the gas tragedy exposed hollow claims that India emerged as a major world power, he said.

‘Crime against humanity'

“It was a crime against humanity and the Supreme Court treated it on a par with a traffic accident, while the government was not able or not willing to take on even the responsibility of relief and rehabilitation,” Mr. Yadav charged. Like other political leaders, he too felt that after this experience the government would have to reconsider the nuclear liability Bill, now before a standing committee.

Separately, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Husain pointed out that the Americans had been able to force British Petroleum to pay as much as $69 million for the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, in which 11 persons were killed.

In Bhopal, more than 15,000 died and lakhs suffered medically. Let alone the trial of Mr. Anderson, the government was not even able to get adequate compensation for the victims.

“The government arranged for safe passage to Mr. Anderson just as it had done for Octavia Quattrocchi, accused in the Bofors case.”

The setting up of the GoM was nothing but “eyewash” and attempt at damage control in the face of strong public criticism.

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