Kolkata, June 13: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee revealed that the decision to send Union Carbide Corporation CEO Warren Anderson out of Bhopal was taken by then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh keeping in view of the deteriorating law and order situation after the gas tragedy in 1984.He defended the decisions taken by Arjun Singh
Mukherjee, quoted Arjun Singh’s statement on Dec 8, 1984, five days after the gas leak at the Union Carbide India Ltd’s pesticides unit in Bhopal that killed an estimated 25,000 people over the years.
“In his statement, Arjun Singh had clearly said there was deterioration of law and order… Therefore it was thought right to send him out of Bhopal. Arjun Singh made the statement Dec 8, 1984 as chief minister,” said Mukherjee, the number two in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Where as pressure has been mounting on Arjun Singh from his Congress colleagues to speak up about Warren Anderson and clear the air over then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s role in the Union Carbide chief’s escape.
The party leaders want him to break his silence so that “names of others are not unnecessarily dragged” into the issue.
Congress Working Committee member Satyavrat Chaturvedi recalled that Arjun Singh had earlier admitted taking the decision at the state level and without any instructions from the Centre.
“Arjun Singh should break his silence and come forward to tell whether he stands by the three statements he had made after Anderson left the country, which clearly bring out the fact that the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had no role into it,” he said.
On the question of extraditing Anderson, he said: “The question of extradition has come up. We will explore the possibility of extradition.”
He refused to comment on the verdict delivered by the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Bhopal June 7, but said the government will go to a “higher judiciary”.
Singh has not broken his silence on issues related to the gas tragedy since the court June 7 convicted seven accused in the gas leak case. However, they were sentenced to a mere two years in jail and were immediately freed on bail.
Anderson, a proclaimed offender in India in the 1984 chemical disaster, is currently in the US.
The Congress has been facing uncomfortable questions on who had ordered Anderson’s extradition hours after his arrest in the aftermath of the tragedy, with some suggesting that he was allowed to go out of the country following a directive from the central government.
On the intervening night of Dec 2-3 1984, poisonous methyl-iso-cyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, killing thousands immediately and many more over the years and maiming numerous others.
—Agencies