Arjun Singh's decision on Anderson 'thought necessary':Pranab

Kolkata/New Delhi, June 13 (PTI) Giving a new spin on why
Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson was allowed to leave the
country after the Bhopal gas tragedy, India's Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee Sunday said then Madhya Pradesh state
Chief Minister Arjun Singh had taken the decision keeping in
view the prevailing law and order situation.
Though Mukherjee, like many Congress leaders, squarely
put the onus of the decision on Singh, he said this was
"thought necessary" as tempers were running high.
The Bhartiya Janta Party and the Left parties mounted
pressure demanding action against those who allowed Anderson
to flee and justice for the victims of the tragedy.
In Kolkata, Mukherjee told reporters, "The statement made
by Singh as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister five days after the
Bhopal disaster had been published in a newspaper."
"It is very clear from the statement of Arjun Singh,
which was published in The Times of India on December 8, 1984,
that the law and order situation in Bhopal would have
deteriorated and people's frenzy and temper were running high.
Therefore, it was thought necessary to send him (Anderson) out
of Bhopal," he said.
He was asked if the Congress was trying to shield Singh
on the issue of exit of Anderson from the country.
On whether the government was considering Anderson's
extradition to India, Mukherjee said the government would look
into the legal avenues available for the possible extradition.
"Though we cannot comment on the court judgement, we
have to go to a higher judiciary where there is an appellate
provision. We will appeal there," he said.
Mukherjee's comments came after several Congress leaders
had emphatically dismissed suggestions that Singh had acted at
the behest of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and mounted
pressure on the senior Congress leader to break his silence on
the issue.
In the days after the gas leak, Anderson was arrested and
then released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh Police on December
7, 1984. He was allowed to leave India immediately and has
refused to return ever since.
On June 7 this year, a Bhopal court convicted eight
people, including a deceased, however there was no word on
Anderson, who was declared an absconder after he did not
subject himself to trial in the case that began 23 years ago.
In the world's worst industrial disaster that occurred on
the night of December 2 and 3, 1984 at the UCIL pesticide
plant, over 15,000 people died and lakhs were left with
disablilities when there was a leak of methyl isocyanate gas
and other toxins from the site.(MORE) PTI TEAM
KAB


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