Inside and out, Congress under attack over Bhopal

The Congress on Thursday found itself hemmed in by attacks from within and outside, with its leaders blaming the then party governments at the Centre and Madhya

Pradesh over the escape of former Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson after the gas tragedy in December 1984.

The Centre sought to play down the controversy, saying all such issues would be looked into by the Group of Ministers set up on Wednesday to go into the range of issues related to the Bhopal gas disaster in which over 15,000 people were killed and tens of thousands of others affected.

Questions were also raised over the role of Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi for taking up the case of Dow Chemicals, the successor of the Union Carbide which was involved in the gas leakage.

Internal politics appeared to have come to the fore in the Congress party with senior leader Digvijay Singh firing a salvo by reportedly saying that release of Anderson had come under "US pressure". Singh was then a minister in the Arjun Singh government of Madhya Pradesh.

Echoing his views, another party veteran Vasant Sathe said "collusion" between the Madhya Pradesh government and "some people" in the Centre had allowed Anderson to escape justice.

Already battling allegations that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh had arranged a special state plane for Anderson to fly away from Bhopal, the party sought to put up a brave face, saying that "facts must come out" and "responsibility must be fixed".

AICC general secretary and media cell incharge Janardhan Dwivedi said, "The party has always maintained that all questions that are raised in any such situation, specially when there is a human tragedy of such magnitude, must be answered properly and responsibility should be fixed. The same norm applies to this case."

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni sought to play down Digvijay Singh's remarks, saying, "Nobody is being indicted by anybody."

"The GoM will examine whatever happened," Soni said when mediapersons repeatedly referred to allegations that Anderson had been deliberately allowed to escape from the country.

"No fact will be hidden," she insisted.

The minister said, "Whatever communication conclusively proves any point or surmise will be taken up at the appropriate forum.... The government, on its part, has not failed to put in place a mechanism. Whatever facts will come to light will be considered, studied by the GoM."

Congress Working Committee member Satyavrat Chaturvedi blamed the then Madhya Pradesh government for the episode and said the central government could not be held responsible.

"The incident took place in Bhopal. The arrest was made by the state government and bail was given to Anderson there the same day. He was sent to Delhi by a state government plane and from there he went to America. Now, where do we see the role of the central government? In this we only see the role of the state government," he said.

Arjun Singh had met party president Sonia Gandhi soon after the Bhopal court verdict on Monday and has since not made any comment on the issue.

Asked who could be responsible for Anderson's escape, Sathe said he could not make a guess but only Arjun Singh could reply to queries on this issue.

"After all, he (Anderson) was given the state government plane from Bhopal to Delhi. Obviously there were some people (in Bhopal and Delhi who were responsible)," he said.

A former Madhya Pradesh aviation official R S Sodhi claimed that he was instructed by the office of then Chief Minister Arjun Singh to arrange for departure of a "VIP" who later "turned out to be Anderson".

A pilot, H S Ali, said he had flown Anderson in a special state government plane from Bhopal to Delhi, where an airport vehicle came to the tarmac to pick him up.

Asked about the divergent views being expressed in party circles on the role of the then Congress governments in the state and the Centre, Dwivedi said, "There may be different personal views."

Party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan also steered clear of the conflicting statements by its senior leaders over Anderson, saying the focus should be on providing relief and rehabilitation and ensuring justice.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party charged the Congress with being soft on foreigners and demanded an impartial probe into Anderson's escape, contending it could "not have been taken without the consent of late Rajiv Gandhi."

Natarajan attacked the BJP, asking it not to politicise the matter as it has "a great deal to answer for, including why the Madhya Pradesh BJP government refused the Centre's request to set up a Bhopal Tragedy Commission and why they still failed to cooperate with the Centre in clearing the toxic waste that is still present in Bhopal."

Flaying the then Congress governments at the Centre and Madhya Pradesh, Communist Party of India leader D Raja said it was "clear that they acted under American pressure".

He said the "aam admi (common man) has been let down and concerns of people not taken into account."

On allegations about the US pressure, Ambika Soni said, "In the last five years, there has been no pressure from any quarter on the United Progressive Alliance government. There has been no pressure from any country or government."

Raja said the "explanations are not convincing".