By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Since 1984 six assembly elections have passed but nearly a half million victims of Bhopal gas tragedy has always got a raw deal. As the seventh election has now approached they remain still distant from expecting any good from democracy’s biggest festival.
‘Yeh toh multinational ke ghulam hain (they are slaves of multinational)’ says Sayeed Mohammed in fury while he explains his disenchantment with elections. “In 1980s and till late 90s it uses to be an election issue. At least politicians use to speak about it. But now a day’s no one gives a damn word for us.”
On December 2-3, 1984, at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, a leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. More than five lakh people suffered injuries and at least 23,000 people are reported to have died in the continuing aftermath since then. Warren Anderson was the chairman of the company. In 1999, UCIL was taken over by Dow Chemicals.
Bhopal gas tragedy unfortunately is no more an issue, even though nearly 5, 00,000 victims still feel dodged up with real justice. “Perpetrators should have been punished,” says Usha Dubey who lost her brother and now suffering from permanent respiratory disorder.
Shanti Devi, Hamida Bi and Rayeesa Bi are united in grief on many counts, the biggest of them is becoming widow. “Government has given 100,000 in compensation, but this is not justice. Will it bring back my good days of life?,” asks Rayeesa.
Hamida bi who got asthma due to aftereffects of the gas tragedy, says she still considers Rs.25,000 given by the government a cruel joke on her suffering. “Medicines, I require, costs more than what Government has paid. They are not even supplying expensive medicines on subsidy.”
(The victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. L-R: Rayeesa Bi, Usha Dubey, Shanti Devi, and Hamida Bi.)
Shanti Devi claims that in 2008 she along with many other victims met chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but they got nothing except assurances of help. “In 2013 the situations is still the same, and CM has only given assurances.”
Abdul Jabbar, a veteran activist from Bhopal, who has dedicated his life in fighting for justice for thousands of those victims. Although government has stopped counting deaths of the gas tragedy after two years of the gas leak, Abdul Jabbar believes that casualties were around 35,000 deaths and nearly 3,00,000 affected persons out of whom 1,00,000 got permanent disabilities. And another 2,00,000 victims who are second-generation sufferers.
(The photo taken by Raghu Rai, published in India Today, documents the horror of the tragedy.)
Jabbar, who runs Swabhiman Kendra and Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan to help gas victims, feels that successive governments have been trying to eliminate the issue from the mainstream to protect the accused industrialists and to send ‘positive signal’ for foreign investments.
He says that during 1985 immediate elections and the subsequent two state elections saw this issue getting raked up. But only to the extent of compensation, no politician ever raised the issue of prosecution of Union Carbide officials. “We speak about bringing in Dawood Ibrahim for killing people, but no one speaks about Anderson who is prime accused of killing thousands in this city,” Mr. Jabbar said.
(Sayeed Mohammed, who lost his wife in the tragedy, still can’t reconcile with the fact.)
Though at the state level any measure to deliver justice was made extinct, but the local politics took a new shape, what Mr. Jabbar prefer to call, ‘making a joke of serious issue’. At the ground level local MLAs changed the fight for justice to a brawl over how to get big compensations, thus fooling the whole victim community, “The stress should have been how to deter another Bhopal not on extracting compensations.”
Some of the NGOs fighting for gas victims decided that they will not allow this issue to get a political death. They have taken a drastic step of rallying nearly half a million victims to utilize NOTA option to register their protest politically.
Abdul Jabbar with his son.
According to five NGOs running this campaign there are around 5 lakh victims affected with gas tragedy, mainly concentrated in three constituencies, Bhopal North, Bhopal Central and Narela. All are Muslim dominated where community’s percentage is around 40-45%.
Ms. Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, who is leading the campaign with four other NGOs, said that NOTA is an effective way to express anger of victims against both principal parties.
Pro-NOTA NGOs is of the hope that if they get a good response especially in three most effected constituencies of North, Central and Narela than they will have bargain power in the next Lok Sabha election over Bhopal parliamentary seat.
Activists fighting for justice for the Bhopal gas tragedy are mobilising people to use NOTA in the elections.
But Mr. Jabbar has his own apprehensions about NOTA campaign. “This kind of pressure tactic can work in village but not in a city where lot of people have different ideologies divided in different camps. If NOTA are used as an option than groups which we don’t like at all will be benefited,” he told TCN.
Then he went on to explain his worry, “Nearly 44% of gas victims are Muslims, even if 24% accepts your campaign then it will have an adverse effect. There are chances that in Muslim dominated constituencies BJP will win.”
Mr. Jabbar said that both Congress and BJP have done nothing for the victims, both are evil, but an action from their part should not benefit anyone of them, “I am not a supporter of Congress, I do not support NOTA campaign nor oppose it, but I have an apprehension that BJP will benefit.”
Communal politics has also been played as deterrent in their fight for justice. Mr. Jabbar shared his own experience, “Local leaders who wanted this movement to die down issued objections over Muslim women participating in Andolan (protests) and on the other hand Hindus were made to believe that in the leadership of a Muslim they can’t get fair justice.”
Gufran Khan (sitting) was only 5 years old when the gas tragedy occurred. He lost his eye sight.
In this illusion of justice Abdul Jabbar said the role of CBI and even judiciary is questionable, “In this case they worked as arms of Government.”
The legal term ‘Absolute Liability’ is being seen by many as the vital thing to be evolved after Bhopal gas tragedy incident but according to activists it has nothing more to do than to please the victims that something has been achieved. “Before that term was introduced people died and even after it Industrial disasters are happening and people are getting killed. Till there is no actual prosecution and delivery of justice which can be seen than till this kind of terms has no value,” Jabbar added.
Advocates of corporate accountability assert that delivery of justice for Bhopal gas victims is important for whole country. Setting up an example against such crime is important to deter future incidents. Mr. Jabbar said, “Giving compensation and silencing the victims is not democracy its corporate democracy.”