Bhopal’s Can of Worms
What is sorely missing is the political will to get to the truth behind such tragedies, says ERVELL E MENEZES
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The recent judgment in the Bhopal gas leak, the worst industrial disaster in history, was a mockery of justice – a case of too little, too late. But it opened a whole can of worms and exposed politicians and bigwigs whose deeds were buried for over 26 years because of the crawling pace of justice.
The disaster of the night of 2 and 3 December 1984 claimed 15,134 lives and affected 5.74 lakh others, after 40 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from a tank in the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan Tiwari, who convicted former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others to two years imprisonment, flayed the synergy of the “very worst” of American and Indian cultures that led to this tragedy. Tiwari charged the US multinational Union Carbide with cynically using a Third World country to escape the strict standards imposed at home. He also slammed the local authorities for callous indifference and a tardy response to the gas leak.
This writer was with ‘Indian Express’ at the time, and I remember watching the teleprinter, on which the death toll kept rising, clearly indicating that it would be tomorrow’s banner headline. There was an air of foreboding and like a fog it spread…
Veteran photographer Raghu Rai says: “It was like the aftermath of chemical warfare… You saw dead bodies lying everywhere… There was no end to it; so many sick people coming in. And the worst thing was that the doctors didn’t know what treatment to give.”
But the most alarming and even nauseating aspect of this tragedy is that the Chairman of Union Carbide Warren Anderson was allowed to go scot-free after spending a few hours in custody, where he is believed to have taken advantage of the available phone to call some important contacts. Now living obscurely in Long Island, New York, he is 90 years old and avoids meeting the media. When a Greenpeace activist went to his house, a neighbour denied that Anderson had anything to do with the Bhopal tragedy even though the Greenpeace person hadn’t even mentioned Bhopal, clearly exposing his guilt.
Union Minister Veerappa Moily said: “This is one case where justice is delayed and denied. I would say justice is buried. There is a need for fast-track courts.” Moily also clarified: “The case is not yet over and, technically, Warren Anderson can still be tried if brought to India.”
Terming the verdict as disappointing, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government decided to petition the High Court to seek an enhancement of the sentence awarded by the lower court.
“A separate case for each death can be filed under Section 304 A IPC and Section 72 CrPC. We will challenge the verdict of the court. We have constituted an expert committee to study the possibilities. It will submit its recommendations within a month, so that the trial court’s verdict can be challenged within 90 days,” Chouhan said.
Home Minister P Chidambaran heads the new Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue. But Chidambaran and former Commerce Minister Kamal Nath have in the past drawn flak for advocating – along with others like Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi – that Dow Chemicals, the US giant that bought Union Carbide in 2001, is not liable for cleaning up the 1984 gas leak site and the contaminated ground water.
Two days after the verdict, Bhopal Collector Moti Singh revealed that Anderson had been released on the orders of the then Chief Secretary Brahama Swaroop (now dead). Former Joint Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) B R Lall has claimed: “We (CBI) were forced by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) not to follow Anderson’s extradition after he had been declared an absconder in 1993.” The Narasimha Rao-led Congress government was in power then.
Another person charged with letting the guilty off the hook is former Chief Justice of India (CJI) A M Ahmadi. The Supreme Court Bench he led diluted the charges against Anderson and the Bhopal accused from 304 IPC (Culpable Homicide) to 304-A IPC (Causing death by Negligence). Interestingly, after retiring as CJI, Ahmadi was appointed Chairman for Life of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust.
Former Information Minister V P Sathe said there was collusion between the state government and some people at the Centre, and that the then Chief Minister Arjun Singh is in the know. It is in this respect that a finger is being pointed at the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. As Alice (of Wonderland fame) would say, it gets “curiouser and curiouser”.
Whatever it is, one must probe this outrage to its logical conclusion and find who is responsible. But sadly, in India this rarely happens. Take the recent case of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where mud-slinging became more of a sport than cricket. It surely makes the aam admi look foolish, and not for the first time.
We are in the 21st Century, and with aids like the Right to Information Bill, we surely can do much better. What is sorely missing is the political will to get to the truth. See how long the Bofors scandal dragged on, raising its ugly head only at election time. The sooner we shed this ‘chamchagiri’ the better. The time to begin is now.
And so to come to our own little paradise of a state, the can of worms is alive and wriggling, with the worms strutting about quite shamelessly; they feel they have immunity. They may be called ‘challis chor’, but a look at our Cabinet shows there’s not a single one without a blemish.
One of them, Tourism Minister Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco, had to quit his post and go into hiding because he is under investigation for the suicide death of Nadia Torrado of Loutolim, with whom he is believed to have had a prolonged love affair.
The grapevine has it that Torrado went to him for a Gulf job for her husband, and that’s how the affair started. But for it to have gone on for years, the girl cannot be blameless.
Mickky (no matter how many ‘k’s he adds, it still stinks) has a reputation of riding roughshod over others and getting away with it. Whatever happened to the casino case he was involved in?
Like Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate – attacking police stations and getting away with it – he was part of the G-7 that tried to dislodge Digambar Kamat. It is said he distributes money to migrants weekly.
Of course, Digambar Kamat himself, indecisive, cunning, but highly publicity conscious (will even inaugurate toilets for his picture in the newspapers) has his finger in every pie – mining, excise scam – you name it and he’s in it, giving only lip service to the aam admi. Home Minister Ravi Naik is alleged to be soft on the drug lobby, apparently by remote control of his son. The list is endless. Limitations of space prevent me from saying more. All in this beautiful paradise of a state; no wonder they say you get the government you deserve!
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Handouts From the Poor
By Marc de Souza
One of the constant concern of the biblical prophets was for the poor, the disadvantaged, society’s powerless members. The prophets were the voice of the voiceless.
The Jews, returned from exile, were experiencing scary setbacks. In desperation, they decided to observe a national fast to force God’s attention.
When nothing happened, they complained loudly. Then they got this response: “Is this the manner of fasting I wish… that a man should bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes…?
“This rather is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly.. setting free the oppressed.. sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”
God does not want empty religiosity. God wants real religion. And the New Testament – letter of James – describes such religion in terms of care for the unfortunate.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God – to care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world (1:27)
A bit later, we are asked the pointed question: Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? (James 2:5)
The poor have so much to give. There is, of course, a grinding, dehumanizing poverty that cries out for redress. One can hardly call its victims happy.
Yet, they are the constant lesson, an ever-present reproach to those who ignore them, or even worse are in any way responsible for their plight. There is another kind of poverty which gives a more positive view of what life is all about.
It warns that the self-centered pursuit of happiness by amassing wealth, gadgets, really unneeded luxuries, leads to disappointment, bitterness, deep unhappiness.
The poor – those who find serene contentment in God’ s simple gifts, adequate food, clothing, shelter, the love of family and friends – are a reminder that here is where solid happiness really lies.
They silently warn us to file the credit cards and take time to smell the roses before they, and we shrivel up and die.
What is God’s response when people hear the cry of the poor? He gives the answer in the passage from Isaiah:
“Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound will quickly be healed… Then you will ask, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am!” (Isaiah 58:8-9).
What is meant by people like Mother Teresa of Calcutta who said we need to learn from the poor?
Most poor have the tremendous hope that things will get better – especially if they truly believe in God. The rich lose sight of hope, the poor die hoping.
We can learn patience. They model for us endurance in the face of suffering.
Rich people tend to depend on their wealth, instead of on God. We need to learn to distinguish needs from wants.
I think most of us are pretty well off, if we have so much as food and clothing. Think of the poor who haven’t even a place to rest their heads.
The poor are a source of enrichment, appears to have motivated the work of many of history’s saints. Almost instinctively, people admire this quality in them, realizing how little real understanding there often is between rich and poor.
