Bhopal:
Twenty five years after the Bhopal's gas massacre, will the younger generation ever know that behind the deaths of so many people lies a conspiracy of silence, both by the Union Carbide and the government?
Real justice has been elusive despite substantial evidence of political cover-ups and criminal negligence.
In 1981, after his friend Ashraf - a Union carbide employee - died following exposure to the deadly Phosgene gas, journalist Keswani in a series of articles warned of severe security lapses within the Union Carbide plant.
His final article 'Bhopal sitting on top of a volcano' was published in Jan Satta just six months before the tragedy occurred. The issue was even is raised in the state Assembly.
At the same time in March 1983, Shahnawaz Khan - an advocate - served a legal notice to the Union Carbide plant pointing out lapses.
Finally, Keswani wrote to Arjun Singh, the chief minister at the time.
"I warned but nobody was bothered: 'Please if u don't even trust me or my writings, kindly launch an investigation into this affair on your own and find out if I am telling the truth'. But even that did not happen," Keswani said.
At midnight on December 2, water entered the tank containing 600 ton of MIC gas, triggering a deadly chain reaction. None of the security systems worked and Keswani, along with thousands, were caught in the killing clouds.
Twenty five years later, Arjun Singh is unavailable to comment.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh who was the state irrigation minister at that time spoke, but was quick to dismiss the evidence.
"I am not privy to the record at the moment that what kind of warnings were given, who gave those warnings etc. I don't think any serious warning came to light before that. I can't say at the moment and fixing up the responsibility and accountability is just not possible," he said.
It was harder to fix responsibility as the commission was set up four days after the gas leak to find the causes of the disaster and was headed by NK Singh - an eminent judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court - and was abruptly wound up even before it could complete the enquiry.
But why there's unease with the commission, perhaps because its findings would give official sanction to well-known public knowledge of the proximity of Union Carbide with the ruling government of the time and expose why 25 years later - we're still waiting for real justice.
Real justice has been elusive despite substantial evidence of political cover-ups and criminal negligence.
In 1981, after his friend Ashraf - a Union carbide employee - died following exposure to the deadly Phosgene gas, journalist Keswani in a series of articles warned of severe security lapses within the Union Carbide plant.
His final article 'Bhopal sitting on top of a volcano' was published in Jan Satta just six months before the tragedy occurred. The issue was even is raised in the state Assembly.
At the same time in March 1983, Shahnawaz Khan - an advocate - served a legal notice to the Union Carbide plant pointing out lapses.
Finally, Keswani wrote to Arjun Singh, the chief minister at the time.
"I warned but nobody was bothered: 'Please if u don't even trust me or my writings, kindly launch an investigation into this affair on your own and find out if I am telling the truth'. But even that did not happen," Keswani said.
At midnight on December 2, water entered the tank containing 600 ton of MIC gas, triggering a deadly chain reaction. None of the security systems worked and Keswani, along with thousands, were caught in the killing clouds.
Twenty five years later, Arjun Singh is unavailable to comment.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh who was the state irrigation minister at that time spoke, but was quick to dismiss the evidence.
"I am not privy to the record at the moment that what kind of warnings were given, who gave those warnings etc. I don't think any serious warning came to light before that. I can't say at the moment and fixing up the responsibility and accountability is just not possible," he said.
It was harder to fix responsibility as the commission was set up four days after the gas leak to find the causes of the disaster and was headed by NK Singh - an eminent judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court - and was abruptly wound up even before it could complete the enquiry.
But why there's unease with the commission, perhaps because its findings would give official sanction to well-known public knowledge of the proximity of Union Carbide with the ruling government of the time and expose why 25 years later - we're still waiting for real justice.
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