BJP asks Congress to come clean on Anderson issue

BJP on Saturday asked Congress to come clean on its role in allegedly providing safe passage to then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson after the Bhopal gas disaster in 1984 and demanded that it apologise to the nation, reported The Hindustan Times (HT).

“Why is the Congress silent on the issue? Why is Arjun Singh silent? Why has the country not been informed about what happened? The silence is eloquent,” BJP chief, Nitin Gadkari, said in his inaugural address at the two-day party national executive in Patna, according to the HT.

Terming the Bhopal tragedy a saga of “treachery, backstabbing and betrayal”, he said the government should move the Supreme Court and “aggressively” seek review of its judgment.

“After the recent verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy, the danger of capping the liability through such legislation has become more pronounced,” the BJP leader said.

The HT reported that the BJP president termed Congress-led UPA as “Union-Carbide Protection Agency” and also maintained that the compensation given and the delay in the process was a “cruel joke”.

“The Bhopal gas verdict is a cruel joke by our criminal justice system. BJP demands that the government should again knock the doors of the Supreme Court and aggressively seek review of its judgement... Bhopal tragedy is the saga of treachery, back-stabbing and betrayal,” he said.

“The Congress owes an explanation to the nation and victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy as to who instructed that Anderson be allowed to leave the country,” senior BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters, according to HT.

Meanwhile, Union law and justice minister M Veerappa Moily, on Saturday, defended the government’s stand on the Bhopal gas tragedy and blamed the judiciary for delaying the case and letting the then Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson get away, as reported by the Times of India (TOI).

According to TOI, he said the government is sorry about what has happened and insisted that the case against Warren Anderson was still not closed.

“I am already on record that case is not closed against Anderson. CBI had filed a charge sheet against Anderson and all the other accused under Section 304(2) where the maximum punishment is 10 years,” the minister said.

He further said the government did its duty at that time and that because of judiciary, justice was delayed.

“But the case was converted to 304 A - which is meant for car accidents - by the Chief Justice of India at that time. For an offence of this dimension, I am sorry it was reduced. The government had done its duty, but because of judiciary it was delayed,” he said,

Terming the Bhopal gas tragedy as a disaster, the minister underlined the need for standard law to deal with such cases, according to TOI.

“We are working on fast-tracking such cases. Cases of mass destruction should have standard law. Mass destruction is not an accident but a disaster. A process of class litigation should also be there,” he said.

TOI reported that the US has said that it would carefully evaluate any new request from India to bring justice to Warren Anderson.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2010.