No record of Anderson release, passage: MHA
Government on Thursday informed Parliament that it has no records of calls made by home ministry “official or officials” to the then chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh for securing release of former Union Carbide Corporation chief Warren Anderson in 1984 and on the “safe passage” assurance reportedly given to him.
The government also put the onus of any wrong-doing on Prime Ministers between 1989 and 1996 who also included Congress leader P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Union home minister Mr P. Chidambaram, while replying to a debate on the issue in RS, also gave a clean chit to the then PM Rajiv Gandhi.
Quoting from Mr Arjun Singh’s speech in the House, Mr Chidambaram told BJP members that “your intention” in raising this issue was “weird” and to point fingers at Gandhi.
Holding successive governments responsible for dealing with the Bhopal tragedy in the “most unsatisfactory” manner, Mr Chidambaram said,”we did many things wrong in the last 25 years”.
“Safe passage was indeed given and according to (M.K.) Rasgotra (then foreign secretary) and he (Anderson) was allowed to leave the country, according to Arjun Singhji. I am in no position to confirm or deny it,” Mr Chidambaram replied after Opposition parties asked who was responsible for proving “safe passage” to Anderson.
Expressing surprise over Mr Chidambaram’s statement, CPI(M) member Mr Sitaram Yechury said “you have archival records of what happened in colonial India but there are no records of who called from home ministry to the then MP chief secretary for granting Anderson bail.”
The Leader of Opposition Mr Arun Jaitley said, “Pranab babu (finance minister Pranab Mukherjee) has a favourite phrase when he says ‘did the people come from another planet?’ So, I am borrowing this phrase — did these instructions come from some other planet?”
Responding, Mr Chidambaram said, “no, they did not come from another planet... This instruction, according to Shri Arjun Singhji’s statement, came from home ministry officials on this planet. Nobody is disputing that.” Mr Chidambaram said it was possible that the safe passage was “negotiated” by the US embassy officials. “This can be described as pressure or duty on their part,” he said.
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