New Delhi: A crucial point of the controversy over the Bhopal Gas Tragedy verdict has been the exit route offered to Warren Anderson, who was the American CEO of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 1984 when a gas leak from the company's plant choked Bhopal. (
Read: Bhopal Tragedy: Who is Warren Anderson?)
Anderson's departure from Bhopal was not a stealthy one. He flew out on December 7, hours after landing in Bhopal, on the official plane of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Arjun Singh. He then stopped in Delhi before leaving the country. But the verdict delivered last week, which offered a nano-punishment to seven Carbide executives, all of them Indian, has led to a new public anger pivoted on why Anderson has never faced trial. (
Read: Anderson release: Arjun's decision?)
The Congress was in power in both Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre, with Rajiv Gandhi, in 1984. Twenty five years later, the party is being forced to mine the past to determine who should take the blame for Anderson's exit. Arjun Singh, seems the general consensus. Several senior leaders, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, have said the decision to fly Anderson out of Bhopal was made by the state government. (
Read: Digvijaya defends Rajiv, says Arjun Singh should answer |
It was Arjun Singh's decision to send Anderson out of Bhopal: Pranab)
But what sort of role did the union government play as Anderson edged out of the country, never to return? (
Read: Bhopal tragedy: Justice strangled by successive governments?)
Gandhi's close aide, Arun Nehru, tells NDTV that Anderson, in Delhi, met with Home Minister Narasimha Rao and the President of India. "My assessment from subsequent events and from what we are seeing - obviously Anderson was not a priority on the 7th. This is common sense to me because the next day, he comes to Delhi and then he meets the Home Minister and then he meets the President. And then, what the media is speculating about... indicates that it is the Foreign Secretary of the time ...whether he was involved or not, I don't know...whether he arranged the interviews with the Home Minister and the President, I don't know. That is for you to find out. But the fact is... Anderson by what happened on the 7th or the 8th was not considered a criminal at that stage. So this is what logic indicates." (
Watch: Anderson was not a priority on Dec 7: Arun Nehru)
So why was Anderson treated like a visiting foreign dignitary, with the protocol and privileges accorded to a VIP?
Tarlochan Singh, who was Personal Secretary to Giani Zail Singh, explains why the President might have met Anderson, who was by then charged with culpable homicide amounting to murder. "If any foreigner wants to meet the President, it's done through a government department. One needs the recommendation of a Central government department to facilitate such a meeting. Secondly, for any such meeting, the department officials accompany the foreigner. And an interpreter is also present."