ID :
128543
Fri, 06/18/2010 - 07:27
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/128543
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Home Ministry, Cab Sec involved on Anderson issue: Rasgotra
New Delhi, June 17 (PTI) Union Carbide Chief Warren
Anderson was given a "safe passage" in 1984 following a
decision taken in a day by the Indian Home Ministry and the
Cabinet Secretary, the then Foreign Secretary M K Rasgotra
disclosed Thursday, adding a new twist to the raging
controversy over the Bhopal gas tragedy.
"I got in touch with the Home Ministry and I got in
touch with the Cabinet Secretary. I told them what Gordon
Streeb (the then deputy chief of the US mission here) had
asked for and I waited for the instructions," Rasgotra said
following a request from the US Embassy categorically asking
for a safe passage for Anderson.
His comments came on the eve of the meeting of the
Group of Ministers to discuss various aspects of the fallout
of the Bhopal court verdict in the gas tragedy case.
Raising its pitch, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) accused the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government of
"willingly and deliberately having conspired" to grant a safe
passage to Anderson.
On its part, the Congress skirted questions on
the then Congress government's involvement on the Anderson
issue. "Since there is a GoM and it has been given the
mandate, it will be appropriate to wait for its outcome than
indulging in speculations," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari
told reporters.
Rasgotra, who broke his silence, said in an interview
to CNN-IBN that the decision to give Anderson a safe passage
was taken "the same day".
"He (Streeb) said Anderson wanted to come here. There
was a tragic situation and he wanted to see things himself,
wanted to offer his condolences but he would come only if
granted safe passage," Rasgotra said.
According to the channel, Rasgotra said Rajiv Gandhi
was subsequently told about granting Anderson a safe passage,
to which he did not object.
Asked if the then chief minister of the central Indian
state of Madhya Pradesh (where the incident occurred) Arjun
Singh was unaware of the safe passage which resulted in
Anderson's brief arrest in Bhopal, Rasgotra said "Did Arjun
Singh really arrest him or the administrative authorities or
police arrested. I cannot say."
On his part, Singh continued to maintain a stoic
silence on the issue.
"The Congress government at the Centre and the state
of Madhya Pradesh most willingly and deliberately conspired to
ensure a safe passage to Anderson, in spite of the fact that
he was one of the principal accused," BJP Chief spokesperson
Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
He took on the Congress for its statement that
criticising Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was "unpatriotic".
Prasad maintained that since Gandhi is not alive,
Singh should break his silence on the issue.
"Arjun Singh has said there was no intention to
prosecute or harass anybody. In a case where thousands of
people lost their lives, such a statement is irresponsible
from a sitting chief minister of that time," Prasad said.
Anderson was the CEO of Union Carbide Corporation when
a gas leak at its Bhopal plant poisoned the city on the night
of December 3, 1984, leaving over 15,000 dead and lakhs
incapacitated.
He arrived in Bhopal city on December 7. Along with
other executives of Carbide, he was charged with culpable
homicide not amounting to murder. He was arrested, then
granted bail, and flown out of Bhopal on the chief minister's
official plane.
The reconstituted GoM will hold daily meetings from
Friday and submit its report next Monday on aspects covering
compensation and legal issues.
Ahead of the meeting, the Indian government said the
nine-member GoM headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram would
address "concerns" on priority basis.
Sources said the GoM would thereafter meet every day
till Sunday and submit its report to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh on Monday.
The Prime Minister had directed it on June 14 to meet
"immediately to take stock of the situation arising out of the
recent court judgement to assess the options and remedies
available to the government on the various issues involved and
to report to the Cabinet within ten days."
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said
the GoM will look into all aspects of the disaster.
"The GoM will look at all issues, more specifically
reaching out to those people who unfortunately have not got
enough compensation, adequate compensation in last so many
years," she told reporters. PTI TEAM
RDM
Anderson was given a "safe passage" in 1984 following a
decision taken in a day by the Indian Home Ministry and the
Cabinet Secretary, the then Foreign Secretary M K Rasgotra
disclosed Thursday, adding a new twist to the raging
controversy over the Bhopal gas tragedy.
"I got in touch with the Home Ministry and I got in
touch with the Cabinet Secretary. I told them what Gordon
Streeb (the then deputy chief of the US mission here) had
asked for and I waited for the instructions," Rasgotra said
following a request from the US Embassy categorically asking
for a safe passage for Anderson.
His comments came on the eve of the meeting of the
Group of Ministers to discuss various aspects of the fallout
of the Bhopal court verdict in the gas tragedy case.
Raising its pitch, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) accused the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government of
"willingly and deliberately having conspired" to grant a safe
passage to Anderson.
On its part, the Congress skirted questions on
the then Congress government's involvement on the Anderson
issue. "Since there is a GoM and it has been given the
mandate, it will be appropriate to wait for its outcome than
indulging in speculations," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari
told reporters.
Rasgotra, who broke his silence, said in an interview
to CNN-IBN that the decision to give Anderson a safe passage
was taken "the same day".
"He (Streeb) said Anderson wanted to come here. There
was a tragic situation and he wanted to see things himself,
wanted to offer his condolences but he would come only if
granted safe passage," Rasgotra said.
According to the channel, Rasgotra said Rajiv Gandhi
was subsequently told about granting Anderson a safe passage,
to which he did not object.
Asked if the then chief minister of the central Indian
state of Madhya Pradesh (where the incident occurred) Arjun
Singh was unaware of the safe passage which resulted in
Anderson's brief arrest in Bhopal, Rasgotra said "Did Arjun
Singh really arrest him or the administrative authorities or
police arrested. I cannot say."
On his part, Singh continued to maintain a stoic
silence on the issue.
"The Congress government at the Centre and the state
of Madhya Pradesh most willingly and deliberately conspired to
ensure a safe passage to Anderson, in spite of the fact that
he was one of the principal accused," BJP Chief spokesperson
Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
He took on the Congress for its statement that
criticising Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was "unpatriotic".
Prasad maintained that since Gandhi is not alive,
Singh should break his silence on the issue.
"Arjun Singh has said there was no intention to
prosecute or harass anybody. In a case where thousands of
people lost their lives, such a statement is irresponsible
from a sitting chief minister of that time," Prasad said.
Anderson was the CEO of Union Carbide Corporation when
a gas leak at its Bhopal plant poisoned the city on the night
of December 3, 1984, leaving over 15,000 dead and lakhs
incapacitated.
He arrived in Bhopal city on December 7. Along with
other executives of Carbide, he was charged with culpable
homicide not amounting to murder. He was arrested, then
granted bail, and flown out of Bhopal on the chief minister's
official plane.
The reconstituted GoM will hold daily meetings from
Friday and submit its report next Monday on aspects covering
compensation and legal issues.
Ahead of the meeting, the Indian government said the
nine-member GoM headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram would
address "concerns" on priority basis.
Sources said the GoM would thereafter meet every day
till Sunday and submit its report to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh on Monday.
The Prime Minister had directed it on June 14 to meet
"immediately to take stock of the situation arising out of the
recent court judgement to assess the options and remedies
available to the government on the various issues involved and
to report to the Cabinet within ten days."
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said
the GoM will look into all aspects of the disaster.
"The GoM will look at all issues, more specifically
reaching out to those people who unfortunately have not got
enough compensation, adequate compensation in last so many
years," she told reporters. PTI TEAM
RDM
