People's Democracy

Massive Demonstration In Bhopal 

Effigy Of Warren Anderson Burnt 

THE Bhopal Gas Victims Struggle Committee organised a convention and the largest demonstration in the city of over 2000 people to mark the twentieth anniversary of Bhopal gas holocaust. The rally was presided over by Professor Afaq Ahmed, Dr Kamala Prasad and the well-known Hindi poet Rajesh Joshi. The proceedings were conducted by Sadhana Karnik Pradhan.

The joint secretary of the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, Suneet Chopra, who was the chief guest, called for proper compensation for the victims, health care, new residences, and recycling of the environment of the factory. He warned the people that mere appeals to the state and central governments or the courts, who had done everything to allow the criminal management and owners of Union Carbide India Ltd. to go scot free, had reduced the charges of culpable homicide to merely death by negligence, had even reduced the compensation to victims and had proposed alternate uses for funds, could not be relied on. A powerful people’s movement of all forces working to help the victims was called for, he stressed.

Suneeth Chopra also told the gathering that the UCIL may be a multinational but behind it was the might of US imperialism that was arm-twisting the Indian government to minimise charges and compensation. It was the same imperialism that had killed hundreds of thousands of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Vietnam, Afghanistan and now Iraq. Without the gas victims and their supporters recognising this and becoming part of the worldwide movement against imperialism, success was not possible against such criminal acts.

He called on the gathering to join the struggle erupting all over the country for the Employment Guarantee Act, land, and rations and against the privatisation of water, electricity and WTO prescriptions in general. A mass movement was necessary to ensure that the ruling classes of the country do not bow down to imperialist pressure.

Addressing the convention CPI(M) MLA, Ram Lakhan Sharma, pointed out that opening the door to WTO policies has made it easier for multinationals to let disasters like Bhopal happen again. Criticising the policies of the state and central governments, he called for the arrest of Warren Anderson, the former CEO of UCIL.

Sandhya Shaili, AIDWA leader pointed out that the thrust of imperialist attacks and WTO polices hit women the hard and therefore they should be in the forefront of these struggles to make them effective. Others who addressed the rally were Subodh Varma of Delhi Science Forum, which also launched a booklet prepared DSF and the MP Science Forum. CITU state president, Promod Pradhan, Ram Prakash Tripathi of Janvadi Lekhak Sangh, Insurance Employees leader S K Ghosh, CITU leader P N Verma, Ajay Khare of the Peoples Health Movement, and gas victims among others. The rally that followed the convention closed with an effigy of Warren Anderson being burnt. (INN)