Bhopal gas verdict: Questions over political culpability

New Delhi: Question 1: Why did Arjun Singh, the Chief Minister defy all warnings and evidence that a disaster was imminent and assured the Assembly that he had personally inspected the Carbide plant and there was no problem just months before the gas leak.

Question 2: Why was Warren Anderson, the chief of Union Carbide given the Chief Minister's own aircraft to leave India, just four days after the leak and with a charge of 304A against him, he left the country shortly afterwards.

Question 3: Why did the government accept the Supreme Court settlement with Union Carbide for just 470 million dollars, money not enough to compensate even a fraction of its victims.

Question 4: Why did the Digvijay Singh government in Madhya Pradesh allow Carbide to return the land with tons of toxic waste still on it when the lease clearly said that Carbide would have to return the land in the same condition that it was leased to it?

Question 5: Today with Carbide back in India as Dow Chemicals, the government seems keen to exonerate Dow from its liabilities in the Bhopal gas tragedy.