25 years of neglect

After 25 years we all have woken up to the Bhopal gas tragedy. But before we say or do anything, it would be in the fitness of things to tender an apology to the people of Bhopal on behalf of the nation and its institutions. The next step should be to reflect on why it took 25 years for all of us to think of the more than 20,000 people who died and those who still suffer. We still do not know if it is safe to live in Bhopal.

We have a rotten system which, over the years, has been designed to cater to those in governance and the circles close to them, both at the Centre and in the states. If we ignore the blame game, move beyond the events that took place on December 7, 1984 — the day Warren Anderson, the then CEO of Union Carbide Corporation, left Bhopal — and concentrate on the facts, we will see why the case was scuttled 1995 onwards.
To find answers, we would have to examine in depth the role of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the home ministry and even the Prime Minister’s Office, then under the control of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao. Along with the details of the case we must check what the Supreme Court said. Was the case diluted by the investigating agencies at any stage? Did any lobbying take place in favour of Union Carbide in the 1990s? If yes, then what influence was exerted on the government? The reality is that former Chief Justice of India A.H. Ahmadi, facing flak for his 1996 verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, diluted the charges and the case was finished. But since then, till 2010, four successive governments at the Centre — formed by the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal supported by the Left and several regional parties — did nothing to review the matter.
Union law minister M. Veerappa Moily can be rather emotional at times but I share his sentiments. Hopefully, his reaction will accelerate the process of judicial reform. Unless we have an effective system of accountability we will continue to be confronted with situations where we will have many judgments going back 10, 15 or 20 years and, instead of looking at the present and planning for the future, we will only be living in the past.
I have no doubt that the group of ministers (GoM) set up by the Prime Minister to examine the trial court’s decision will return a positive verdict on the compensation issue along with other facilities that must be provided to the victims. The GoM, I am certain, will do everything possible to extradite Warren Anderson, and hold Dow Chemicals to account for all the financial damages and the cleaning up of the abandoned factory. Anyone in a powerful position found to be associated with these firms would be courting political disaster.
Politics is run by public perception, not by smart legal arguments. But, at the same time, we must not attribute motives as the politics of 2010 is very different from the situation in 1984. Details of the events of December 1984 in Bhopal have been available on several websites for some time. And if anyone had done their homework and downloaded the relevant information, there would be little confusion and the wasteful blame game would have never started. Even today many in the media are making “fresh disclosures” of events that have already been reported in 1984.
Much has changed with the statement of former foreign secretary M.K. Rasgotra. Mr Rasgotra has said that the then home ministry, under P.V. Narasimha Rao, had assured “safe passage” to Mr Anderson even before he arrived in India to take stock of the Bhopal gas leak. A great deal of speculation has come to an end with this revelation and the narration of behind-the-scenes activity by various writers, including Raj Kumar Keswani in the Chandigarh-based Tribune newspaper on June 11, 2010.
While we continue to speculate about what was right or wrong with wisdom or ignorance of hindsight, the fact is that in 2010 we cannot, with any accuracy, know what was the ground reality in Bhopal in 1984. Arjun Singh, the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, was the man on the spot and acted to the best of his ability.
Of course, the facts and the steps taken are best known to those who were in the loop. The reason, perhaps, for the continuing blame game is that there are several versions of the events of December 7, 1984, and several little pieces that don’t fit the picture that is being put forward. For example, there are two versions of how and why the decision of granting “safe passage” to Mr Anderson was taken. One version claims it was done before his arrival, while another claims that it was a decision taken after he was arrested and the American embassy started exerting pressure.
As the GoM meets on a daily basis to resolve the issue of rehabilitation and compensation for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the media is busy investigating issues that led to the dilution of the charges and everything else connected with Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals. This issue will not fade away soon and I wish there was a better way of effecting change in our system. Do we need a disaster of this nature to spur us to action?
We all have the right to express our opinions but we must ensure that the victims have the final say. But for the families of those who perished, those who continue to suffer and those who had the courage and resolve to keep fighting, whatever we do today will not be enough. The fact is that we neglected them for 25 years.

Arun Nehru is a former Union Minister