Manish Chandra Mishra-
Survivors of 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy hosted protest against U S President Donald Trump, who is on a two-day state visit to India; alleged him of advocating for Dow Chemical.
The protest held in Bhopal on Feb.24, was hosted by several local organizations; where hundreds of women survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster in protest flayed US President Trump’s effigy with brooms.
Led by four local organizations, the survivors expressed their anger against the US government for refusing to serve summons issued by the Bhopal Court upon Dow Chemical, owner of Union Carbide.
Madhya Pradesh Muslim Vikas Parishad a local social service organization supported the demonstrators’ call for justice in the criminal case on the world’s worst industrial disaster.
“Since 2016 when Trump came to power, the Bhopal district court has twice summoned Dow Chemical, as owner of Union Carbide that is absconding charges of corporate manslaughter, but Trump’s Department of Justice has refused to serve these summons upon Dow” said Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh.
Nasreen Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said, “In violating the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between India and USA, the Trump government is sheltering the perpetrators of the worst corporate massacre in history.”
“It is now clear that Trump is visiting India mainly to further the interests of death dealing US corporations like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Westinghouse and others. It is indeed shocking that our Prime Minister in his eagerness to please Trump has not sought, let alone pressed for, US governments’ cooperation in bringing the killers of Bhopal to justice.” said Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action.
Durgesh Ahirwar of Children against Dow Carbide said, “In Bhopal hundreds of victims of Union Carbide are still dying untimely deaths, hundreds of thousands are battling chronic illnesses and tens of thousands of children are being born with malformations and growth disorders. Through our brooms today we are telling the world about the US government’s role in the ongoing injustice in Bhopal.”
Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA)’s Rachna Dhingra said, “It is pathetic that neither PM Narendra Modi nor US president Donald Trump is serious over execution of court summon to Dow Chemicals. US administration should cooperate for execution of Court notices when it is matter of world largest industrial disaster—Bhopal Gas Tragedy. For the sixth time since 2014, the Court’s notices had gone unheeded. Now US president is on two day visit, PM Modi is expected to pursue it.” Warren Anderson was the Chairman of the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) in 1984, when a methyl isocyanate leaked from its pesticide plant here killed thousands and caused deformities and congenital diseases in lakhs. After it was acquired by the Dow Chemical Company as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2001, the firm’s assets and liabilities (civil as well as criminal) were deemed to be transferred as well, BGIA added.
