NEW DELHI, AUG 11
A very frail looking 79-year-old Arjun Singh wheel-chaired into the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to join the debate on the Bhopal gas tragedy and broke his silence on arrest and release of the then Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson in 1984 when he was the chief minister of MP.
Reading out slowly from a prepared statement he was allowed to make while sitting, he refuted the Opposition’s charge of being soft to the American tycoon and urged PM Manmohan Singh to broach his extradition with US President Obama visiting India in November as India and US have an extradition treaty in place.
He owned up all actions he took to maintain dignity and safety of the people of Bhopal as the chief minister after the tragic night of the gas leak that killed hundreds. He also indirectly absolved then Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi of any responsibility for arrest or release of Anderson, pointing out that he had driven down to Harda, some 140 km from Bhopal, two days later to brief him (Gandhi) who was busy with the electioneering.
People quite angry from Bhopal turned into a mass grave had reached Bhopal airport in large number on learning about Anderson’s arrival a day after the tragedy and they would have lynched him but “I gave orders in writing to arrest Anderson.” Anderson and two other Carbide executives were picked up by police as soon as their aircraft touched down and whisked away through a side gate.
Mobs would have lynched him but for taking him in the physical custody and flying him out quickly, Arjun Singh affirmed, adding “I did it with a heavy heart but I had to ensure his physical safety so that trial could be carried out against him.” After Anderson left Bhopal for Delhi, he returned to America and has since ignored a series of arrest warrants.
Recalling the events, Arjun Singh said: “Someone told me that Warren Anderson was coming to Bhopal. I was amazed at the audacity of a person who was aware of what his factory was manufacturing… but he was coming to Bhopal … for what? At that very moment, I made up my mind that as soon as he lands he should be arrested.”
“I did not share my decision with anybody. I did call in the officers concerned and briefed them to arrest Anderson on his arriving. As soon as he stepped down from the plane, the police SP escorted him in a car and told him that he was under custody and they are taking him to his own resthouse for detention. He was so surprised when he was told this … he kept asking … Why is the CM not here to receive me … Imagine the arrogance of the man,” said Singh.
He was also forthright in pointing out that Anderson was put on a flight to Delhi after then Chief Secretary Brahm Swaroop, who is no more, received calls from the Home Ministry. Opposition leader Arun Jaitley wanted him to reveal name of the person from the Home Ministry who got Anderson set free, but Arjun Singh did not respond and the House was adjourned for the day, leaving the government to reply on Thursday.
In the Lok Sabha, Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj called for an unanimous resolution passed by Parliament to scrap the “out of court settlement” done by the government with the Union Carbide in 1989 for paltry compensation of Rs 615 crore to the victims. She also asked the government to become a party in the case filed by some gas tragedy victims in the United States against the company.
She also questioned the government for its wisdom in taking a decision after a Bhopal court sentenced six officials of the then Union Carbide factory to pay compensation to the victims from the tax-payers’ money instead of making the company responsible for the gas leak pay it.
There were strong protests from the Congress benches when she tried to implicate late Rajiv Gandhi for the 1989 settlement, though without naming him. “Who is responsible for this settlement? Why did those who had been at the helm of affairs agree to such a settlement,” she asked.
