Arjun breaks silence on Bhopal gas tragedy; points to Rao for Anderson's exit

Veteran Congress politician Arjun Singh, who was the chief minister of united Madhya Pradesh at the time of the Bhopal gas tragedy in December 1984, finally broke his silence on the controversy following the trial court's judgment in the case two months ago.

Reading out a statement on the events of 1984 in the Rajya Sabha, the ailing Congressman appeared to blame the late PV Narasimha Rao for the exit of former Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson in the wake of the disaster in 1984, thus giving then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi a clean chit.

"The chief secretary informed me that there have been persistent calls for granting bail to Mr Anderson from home ministry officials in Delhi," said Singh. Narasimha Rao was then India's home minister.

Singh, who did not share a good relationship with Narasimha Rao during his days as Union human resources development minister in Rao's cabinet in the first half of the 1990s, said he had ordered Anderson's arrest and wanted it to be recorded so that he could be produced before the courts when needed.

Participating in a debate on the gas leak, the world's worst industrial disaster, which took place on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984, and claimed more than 15,000 lives, Singh said he had informed Gandhi, who was in Harsud town in Madhya Pradesh, immediately after Anderson's arrest on December 6, 1984.

"Rajivji did not utter a single word in the next two days either in support of Mr Anderson or try to mitigate his problem. Attaching motives to the then prime minister would be a figment of the imagination of persons who can see nothing constructive of a person of that stature," he said.

Ever since a Bhopal court sentenced the accused in the gas disaster to just two years in prison, the opposition has been alleging that Gandhi may have had a hand in Anderson's exit soon after his arrest in the case.

Singh also said he had offered to quit after the accident but was dissuaded from doing so by Gandhi who, he said, told him that no one was blaming him (Singh) for the tragedy.

Anderson was "directly responsible" for the tragedy and the government should push for his extradition and seek "adequate and full" compensation for the tragedy.

He said prime minister Manmohan Singh should take up with US president Barack Obama during his forthcoming visit the issues of Anderson's extradition and adequate compensation for the victims of the disaster.

Giving for the first time his side of the story, Singh said it was "incongruous that Anderson took a state plane to leave Bhopal" but did not go into details, saying he did "not want to enlarge on these things as it would add grief and
bitterness".

Narrating the sequence of events that started with the leak in the early hours of December 3, 1984, Singh, 80, said Rajiv Gandhi was in Harsud town of Hoshangabad district when Anderson was arrested.

"There had been persistent calls for granting bail to Anderson from the home ministry in Delhi. I told him [Madhya Pradesh chief secretary] that he can do whatever he  likes but the arrest be duly recorded so that we can summon him [Anderson] whenever we want," said Singh.

Not satisfied with Singh's version, leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley said the senior Congress politician was blaming people who were not alive. Neither the then Union home minister nor the then Madhya Pradesh chief secretary is alive today.

Jaitley argued that if Rajiv Gandhi had no sympathy for Anderson, then why did he listen to the home ministry. "His statement is concealing more," the BJP politician said.

Singh said he had met Rajiv Gandhi and narrated the events leading to the arrest of Anderson. Gandhi "heard me out without any comment and said let us move to another [election] meeting. Rajivji did not have any kind of sympathy for anyone, much less Mr Anderson.

"I am not shifting any blame on anybody. Whatever is the blame, I am ready to suffer as an ordinary citizen. The clamour for my speaking out should now subside."

Justifying the state government's decision to take Anderson to an official rest house after his arrest, the then chief minister said he had to carry out this job "with a heavy heart" in order to prevent any physical or personal harm to the Union Carbide chief.

Maintaining that a large number of people, particularly the next of kin of those who had died, had gathered outside the airport, Singh said Anderson would have been "lynched from the nearest lamppost" had the people learnt of his arrival.

Singh said Anderson, whom he mockingly described as 'Bada Saheb', had the audacity to come to Bhopal after the tragedy even though he was directly responsible for it.

"He could not be coming to share our grief," Singh said.

After his arrest, while he was being escorted to the rest house, Anderson kept asking why the chief minister was not saving him. "That is the kind of arrogance these people have."

Singh said he was not seeking a "bargain" from anybody for recounting the events with "great anguish".

"I do not want to lay blame on any side not in the hope of a bargain," he said.

He said allegations against him were started by a handful of people. "In our country, gossip has a stronger force than reason," Singh said while noting that he had set up a commission of inquiry which could start by questioning him.

The Congress politician said the government of Manmohan Singh today was committed to getting Anderson extradited from the US and he had no opinion to give on how it should be done.

"People responsible know how it is to be done," he said.

Arjun Singh said India had an "unspoken promise" from the US on Anderson's extradition and the prime minister should take up the issue with Barack Obama when the US president visits India in November.

"Adequate and full compensation can be asked from him [Obama]," he said.

He said news reports had quoted Obama as saying, "Let somebody make a reference to us [about Anderson], then we will
see."